28th November 2013
Yet another case of AGameAWeek Gold being strangely interconnected with other events in my life!!
Today, I posted about Star Trek Pong 3 earlier today, and it got me thinking about the even older Amiga edition.
Curiously, I also recently purchased a USB Capture device for my PC. I wanted to output all my consoles and computers through my PC's monitor. It has a HDMI port, but a Scart->HDMI device seemed a little pricey.
Being the cheapskate that I am, I instead settled for a Capture device, which bas...
Views 96, Upvotes 15
Agameaweek Gold
28th November 2013
<img src="https://socoder.net/AGAWGold_128.png" style="float:right;">AGameAWeek Gold is our occasional glance through the archive, to pluck out some of the great games that I've created over the many years that I've been doing this.
Along the way we'll discover some great gems that I'd forgotten about, or occasionally the odd bit of garbage that I'm frankly happy to have forgot about!
Today, we take a look at a strange little Pong game!
Views 60, Upvotes 16
Agameaweek Gold
26th November 2013
Awww..
Nuts.
Today was supposed to be the great big release day, but annoyingly, one or two annoying issues have annoyingly cropped up.
<img src="https://AGameAWeek.com/complete/NeonPlat_Extreme_20131126B.png">
First and foremost.. and quite bizarrely.. My Monkey games no longer appear to be working with Gamepads!!
At first I thought I'd retweaked NeonPlat until my code no longer worked, but upon searching through my archive, it appears that they're all equally as broken.
Either it's my Laptop...
Views 94, Upvotes 17
Release
NeonPlat Extreme
Game
26th November 2013
Views 1612, Upvotes 47
Platdude
,
Action
,
Arcade
,
Remake
,
Neoplat
AGameAWeek?
Blog
25th November 2013
Nah, not quite.
But for a fair bulk of this year, I did manage to keep up the rate.
2013's not been too bad, considering..
Towards the end of January, I finished off my new Monkey Framework, and set about coding with that.
Since then, I continued to code games at a rate of one a week, up until the first stumbling block struck in April.
I initially intended to code a new word game, each week, and create a huge Stringy Things mega-game during April, but it all went to pot when the Image-Data-Loader did...
Views 19, Upvotes 7
Daily Blog
21st November 2013
It feels like AGES since I last posted a Sheep Goes Right test.
In fact, it's been just over a month.
October 14th was the last version, and today I'm posting a second test release.
This time, I'm releasing an APK for OUYA.
For testing purposes, this should also work on Android devices, but it's untested, and I'm not exactly sure how Monkey copes with things like that!
..it'll have a great big overscan border, for starters!!!
Anyway, if you've an OUYA, I'd appreciate a quick test, and some feedback....
Views 17, Upvotes 7
Daily Blog
19th November 2013
In the third of our NeonPlat Extreme tests for Neovember, we're playing against giant enemies!
Each of the "Bosses" requires three hits to kill.
Nothing massive, nothing awesome, just a screen full of great big bad guys.
You can (URL "https://socoder.net/monkey/NPETest3/MonkeyGame.html">Play NeonPlat Extreme : Test Three : Bosses) in your browser.
Views 20, Upvotes 9
Daily Blog
15th November 2013
Karl's Tiny Adventure was created way, way, way back in March of this year.
You can (URL "https://AGameAWeek.com/GameList.php?ShowJust=288">Play Karl's Tiny Adventure here).
The game was my first true test of proper "Image Data Loading", and my first proper lesson in Android Fragmentation.
Annoyingly, because different Android devices operate in slightly different ways, the Image Data Loading wasn't occurring in an accurate manner, and as a result, the level data was getting all screwed up.
As well...
Views 35, Upvotes 6
Daily Blog
12th November 2013
Neovember is a month in which I'm taking the engine from NeonPlat Raw, and playing about with it to create a bunch of different gameplay styles.
Once we're done, I'll bundle everything back into a package, and pop it up on all the different systems.
This week's experimental gameplay mode comes courtesy of Blockman. Not the hungry-pellet-eating version of Blockman, the classic platforming/collection form.
You start the game as you normally would, with you, some balls, and some bad guys.
There's also a...
Views 28, Upvotes 8
Daily Blog
OUYA Stats Converter
Blog
10th November 2013
This is a quick and simple tool to take OUYA.tv's "Unique Download.csv" file, and convert it to a raw .html file, which you can either look at and admire, or upload to a server for other folk to equally look at and admire.
This tool is only useful for folk who A) Have an OUYA dev account, and B) Know WTF it is!!!
You can (URL "https://socoder.net/uploads/1/OUYAStatConverter.zip">Download OUYA Stats Converter here)
You can (URL "https://socoder.net/OUYAStats.html">see the resu...
Views 23, Upvotes 5
Daily Blog
10th November 2013
(URL "https://socoder.net/uploads/1/NeonPlat_Editions..jpg"><img src="https://socoder.net/uploads/1/NeonPlat_Editions._thumb.jpg">
Click for MASSSIIIIVVVE)
Haze inquired as to why there's no NeonPlat Raw on iOS. The answer is simply because, a full year earlier, iOS got it's own special little NeonPlat.
In February 2012 (Just before my whole hospital saga!) I released NeonPlat on iOS. It featured tilt-controls, and 3 difficulty levels, and stands out as it's own special little version of the...
Views 22, Upvotes 7
Daily Blog
OUYA!
Blog
9th November 2013
OK, I'll admit it, I'm enjoying the OUYA.
You can keep up with (URL "https://www.ouyalytics.com/developer/Jayenkai/">all my OUYA games here). There's currently 5 of them, and there's oodles more to come!
(URL "https://AGameAWeek.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/icona.png"><img src="https://AGameAWeek.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/icona-150x150.png" alt="" title="icona" width="150" height="150" class="alignnone size-thumbnail wp-image-3272" /> (URL "...
Views 21, Upvotes 8
Daily Blog
5th November 2013
This month is all about NeonPlat Extreme, as I slowly bulk up a minimalistic game with tons of brand new features!
Woot!
To celebrate, here's a lovely great big wallpaper!
(URL "https://AGameAWeek.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/Wallpaper_Neovember.png"><img src="https://AGameAWeek.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/Wallpaper_Neovember-1024x1024.png" alt="" title="Wallpaper_Neovember" width="590" height="590" class="alignnone size-large wp-image-3252" />
Click for massively oversized version (32...
Views 21, Upvotes 8
Daily Blog
5th November 2013
Welcome to Neovember, the month of NeonPlat, where I take the original NeonPlat Raw engine, and gradually upgrade it, adding new gameplay elements, features and modes.
By the end of Neovember, we'll have a lovely big Extreme version of NeonPlat, and we can all sit around and play it for days/weeks/months at a time!
In this first week, I've decided to tackle the task of bringing over the NeonPlat Adventures enemies, and popping them into the new gane.
So far I've managed the first 35 enemies, ranging ...
Views 28, Upvotes 9
Daily Blog
Neovember?!
Blog
1st November 2013
Right, time for a new plan.
The last plan fell apart, and I'm struggling to come up with new games that work with all the possible targets, nicely.
Grrr!
So, instead, I've opted to do something that I initially planned to do months and months ago.
When I created "NeonPlat Raw" back in June, I purposely gave it the name "Raw" so that a future (premium?) expansion could be called "Extreme!"
For Extreme, I'm thinking something along the lines of how NeonPlat 2 was a HUGE leap from NeonPlat 1. Different...
Views 21, Upvotes 8
Daily Blog
Plans Abandoned
Blog
30th October 2013
During most of October I've been building up a lovely little "Compendium".
The idea was to make a collection of 25 little games, and pop it up as a sort of Advent Calendar type thing, but without it being thematically Christmassy, so that you could happily enjoy it at any time of the year.
It's been about 2 or 3 weeks since I started the project.
I got a lovely menu system working, and managed to fit all the usual scoreboard/icon/etc elements in.
Then I started making games.
.. and that's when the ...
Views 17, Upvotes 5
Daily Blog
BlastTrax on OUYA
Blog
29th October 2013
Yesterday saw the launch of BlastTrax on OUYA.
Since I've yet to figure out all that nasty Tax gubbins (I know, I know!!... eventually!!) I've not yet managed to add any IAP stuff to any of my games.
Since an OUYA game is freely available as a download, and then the .apk gets reproduced all over the entire internet via robot-spammy-feed sites, you either have to do 100% free, or buttloads of IAP stuff. There's no mid-point, no way to create a "Demo vs Full version", or anything else like that.
Since...
Views 28, Upvotes 7
Daily Blog
28th October 2013
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 the 99% of the ...
Views 22, Upvotes 7
Daily Blog
BlastTrax *sigh*
Blog
27th October 2013
(URL "https://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/blasttrax/id689619329?mt=8">BlastTrax is currently (27th October 2013) free on the iOS AppStore)
I really do find myself in a bit of a baffled state over this one.
As the AGameAWeek guy, I'm certainly used to shrugging off failed releases, and in many ways this one should be exactly the same.
This is simply one of many releases that I've made this year, and over the course of the year, pretty much all the games have had a day or two of interest, and then quickly...
Views 35, Upvotes 9
Daily Blog
26th October 2013
Over the course of the past 5 weeks, BlastTrax has sold 16 copies.
SIXTEEN....
That's just bloody well shit...
I've made the game free for a couple of days. Grab it while you can, and don't expect any more damn updates.
Sod that shit!
(URL "https://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/blasttrax/id689619329?mt=8">Grab it Here)
Views 22, Upvotes 4
Daily Blog
BlastTrax : Maps
Blog
22nd October 2013
Do you need maps for BlastTrax!?
..
...
No..
You don't!
Still, here they are!
(URL "https://googledrive.com/host/0B-wPKt_YBHKfeU9JdkFCdWQwUVk/maps.htm">BlastTrax : Maps)
There's a map for each of the first 15 levels of each of the 9 gamemodes in the current (V1.1) edition of the game.
They're bloody useless, but there they are!
Enjoy looking at the squiggles!!
Views 84, Upvotes 7
Daily Blog
How To : Glow
Blog
21st October 2013
Since I just answered this on the Monkey Forums, and created a nice little image to illustrate it, I thought it might be useful to repost my description here.
Here's roughly how I achieved the Glow effect on NeonPlat.
First, draw your sprite in a RAW form, then make a copy, make it bolder, then blur it all up a bit.
Finally, load both the RAW and the BLUR into your game, draw the Raw first, then draw the blur over the top.
It really is a simple effect, and depending on how large your blur-sprites ar...
Views 19, Upvotes 7
Daily Blog
20th October 2013
So, I finally got an OUYA, and managed to get my first game into the OUYA store after a bit of tweaking.
Time to update my Framework!
The Download(URL "https://socoder.net/monkey/Framework_13_10_20.zip">Jayenkai's Monkey Framework, as of 20th October 2013) | (URL "https://AGameAWeek.com/2013/10/monkey-skeleton-13_10_20/">Blog Post)Older versions(URL "https://socoder.net/uploads/1/Monkey_Framework_2013_06_13.zip">Jayenkai's Monkey Framework, as ...Views 53, Upvotes 13
Daily Blog
17th October 2013
Late last night, NeonPlat Raw appeared on the OUYA Dashboard for the very first time.
This is kind of a big deal, in that it's the first time one of my games has officially been released on an actual physical home-console.
True, it's not a "PROPER" console, but .. Hey, it's a box with a controller that plugs into my telly.
And it's got my games on it!
So, Hell yeah, It's proper enough to me!!
If you have an OUYA, you can grab (URL "https://www.ouya.tv/game/NeonPlat-Raw">NeonPlat Raw) for it.
It's...
Views 33, Upvotes 9
Daily Blog
14th October 2013
I've built a nice editor, and have started making some levels, so it's time to figure out exactly how I'm going to layout the level structure, exactly how the scoring will be figured out, how level progression will be stored, and all sorts of other little complicated bits and pieces.
There's a lot of work to do.
In the meantime, I thought it might be nice for folk to have a little play of the game, as it currently stands, so I've built an early "First 10" level demo thing.
You can (URL "https://socod...
Views 15, Upvotes 5
Daily Blog
13th October 2013
I can't exactly say I've been enjoying the time off..
To be honest, 95% of September was spent working on the big BlastTrax update, and so far most of October has been similarly working on Sheep Goes Right.
It's actually a heck of a lot of stuff to cram into such a short amount of time, and it's been so much effort that I've been neglecting AGameAWeek.
But.. You know.. They're both nice big games, and they're both sort of worth the effort. Or at least, I think so, anyway!
Meanwhile I've gone and boug...
Views 29, Upvotes 8
Daily Blog
11th October 2013
Want a nice free game to play on your tiny OUYA console?!
How about NeonPlat Raw?!
Since I'm still learning the OUYA ropes, and still trying to figure everything out, I've not yet got my whole OUYA-Dev-Account stuff fully sorted. (erk, Tax forms!!?)
So, in the meantime, we'll have to resort to throwing random crap online for free!
o/yeayo/
(URL "https://socoder.net/NeonPlatRaw_OUYATest.apk">NeonPlat Raw : OUYA Test (.apk : Grab it on your OUYA!))<img src="https://AGameAWeek.co...Views 18, Upvotes 7
Daily Blog
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