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 few of these have already been posted, but there's a whole batch of new ideas here. Let's go!!! (There's a lot!!)

I've been meaning to start mentioning McCoy's AGameAWeek games for a few weeks, now, but am usually too busy on a Wednesday to think about it. D'oh!! No matter... Today I'm at work, and have incredibly managed to remember, so here's this weeks. (URL "https://nmccoy.net/2010/03/10/game-07-avoid-spikes/">Avoid Spikes) is one of those "uhoh!" games that regulars here will be all too familiar with. They usually occur when you've spent too long on a project, and would rather it wasn't rushed, so you ...

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>

On Tuesday I'll be posting the last of my planned Mar10 games, and it's going to be a wild ride to see what oddities appear for the next couple of weeks. After that I've got the whole JNKPlat10 to do, but that'll probably be more of a background thing. In the meantime, I'd like your game ideas, and what better place to pop them, than into our ever-present Suggestion Box, over on the right. I'll peek inside the spam filled mass of suggestions once I've posted this game, and try to dig out any recent s...

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! It's nice and filled, though, with plenty of bits and pieces to keep you hunting around. <a href="https://socoder.net/uploads/1/car...

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 it's provi...

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! No matter, all I need to do is build a few little objects and then start making some levels for it all. ...... 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. Job attempted, didn't turn out so great. 3. Munky running around with a Mario Costume on.. I'll b...

<a href="https://AGameAWeek.com/GameList.php?ShowJust=192">Download Ace Paceman here.</a> Week two of our fantastic little MAR10 quest sees an old obscure character, <a href="https://AGameAWeek.com/GameList.php?ShowJust=76">from This game</a>, whose name was quickly thought up by Spinal, over at Socoder. (He's the guy that made DSision, for the DS!) Thanks Spinal!! From this... <a href="https://AGameAWeek.com/complete/Ace_Paceman_in_a_Mario_Costume_20100309B.png"><...

A bit of a chore, this week, to be honest. I started on a game, expecting it to be nice and fun, but it's not really been all that great. Instead it's been one of those "By the numbers" type things, and there's not really anything special about it, at all.. Aww well, not to worry, it's still a game! <a href="https://socoder.net/uploads/1/Ace_Paceman_in_a_Mario_Costume_(Screenshot_08_Mar_2010_092927).png"><img src="https://socoder.net/uploads/1/Ace_Paceman_in_a_Mario_Costume_...

Moving from DS to iPod Touch has been a decent improvement, but.. boy, do I miss having buttons!! There's also a fair few other little bits and pieces that aren't quite right. WordJong, for starters, is only about 1/10th of the game it was on the DS, And, what's up with the audio, it's like something keeps messing with the sounds on the thing. I dunno.. It's odd. But there's one thing that I miss most of all. And that's ZooKeeper. Sure, the iPod has Bejeweled, but it's just not the same. ZooKeepe...

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>

Socoder Newsletter

<br> <br> "Best viewed in Peiplum"<br> #045 - 5th March 2010<br> <br> <big> Print</big><br> Hello all<br> <br> The worst thing about writing AGameAWeek is that<br> horr...

Oh dear, I'm WAY behind, this week. I spent most of yesterday doing odd little bits of behind-the-scene Socoder stuff, so I'm a wee bit behind. Then, today, something that should've been a 10 minute job ended up taking AGES to do! I hate things like that! Not to worry, though. Our main character is drawn, and he now has a fantastic Mario costume to wear. He's even been given the name "Ace Paceman", by Spinal, over at Socoder. Because, for one reason or another, he never really had on...

And so it begins.... A whole month of MAR10 games, featuring your favourite (or not) Jayenkai characters, all dressed up like Mario! Hurray!

Ted Bob in a Mario Costume

<a href="https://AGameAWeek.com/complete/Ted_Bob_in_a_Mario_Costume_20100302B.png"><img src="https://AGameAWeek.com/complete/Ted_Bob_in_a_Mario_Costume_20100302B_thumb.png"></a> Taking the character, and the gameplay, straight from Three French Hens, I've upped the stakes, upped the hens, and even added...

We're about to enter MAR10, here in the UK, so I might as well show off a screenshot for Tuesday. <a href="https://socoder.net/uploads/1/Ted_Bob_in_a_Mario_Costume_(Screenshot_28_Feb_2010_221304).png"><img src="https://socoder.net/uploads/1/Ted_Bob_in_a_Mario_Costume_(Screenshot_28_Feb_2010_221304)_thumb.png"></a> Yeay! First game in MAR10 will be "Ted Bob in a Mario Costume" Ted Bob, of course, being the character in the 12 Games of Christmas's "Three French Hens" You c...

*Very ranty, and quite wordy!*

Since mid-December, when I stupidly came up with the idea to make 12 games over the course of Xmas, I've been lagging behind. So, So, SOOO far behind. And I've been trying desperately to catch up with loads of stuff. This week, I released my framework. It's still not quite done, and the music engine definitely needs a whole boatload of work. But it's getting there. And with that nearly out of the way, I'm finding myself finally able to take a few minutes to do something other tha...

I've been trying to come up with a neat idea for MAR10 month for ages, and no matter what I think of, it's usually a case of "But I already did that!" So, instead of worrying about the fact that I've already done things, I'm wondering what would happen if I took the things that I've already done, and added a Mario element to them. This brings a few nice elements. 1. I can add stuff to older games. 2. Old games on Linux! woot! 3. I can bypass the fact that I'm nicking Nintendo&...

Okeydokey, here we go! If you've got BlitzMax, prepare to see the insane chaos of Jay's coding style!! ARRRGHHHHHHH!!!! The framework, as it is, at this moment in time. The music engine isn't all it oughta be, I've really not had the time, and I'm quite annoyed that it's not finished yet. As such, the app also isn't done, and it'll all have to wait another week. dangit. No matter, here's what is here. 1. The framework. 2. The basics of the Music Engine....

Part one of today's awesomeness is a huge update to last week's game. I was going to do a seperate game, but I've had no time, what with working on the music stuff all week. Dangit. And, wouldn't you know, I even forgot to make any music for this, too! d'oh! No matter, here's Box's Adventure (aka BadgeBox) version 2. There's not much Badge-Related additions in the game. There's an explosive version of the attraction badge, but you need to get both before it&#...

I'd love to get a game done, but finishing the music thing, and sorting out the last bits of the Framework ready for first release? Well, that's going to take some time. And with only 2 days to get it all done. .. eek! So, instead, we'll try something a little different, this week. First off, I'm fixing up Box's Adventure a little. There are some ideas jotted down, and a few thoughts over at RetroRemakes, so I really feel like the game could expand exponentially. It won't be a sequel, more ... ...

1. The AngryBirds thing. I'm not about 80% convinced that all was just a co-incidence. My iPod played up whilst Angry Birds was on, the game went away, the problem went away, the game came back, a different issue occurred. So, perhaps it was just some odd occurrence. Who knows. The author's been back+forthing me on Twitter, and he's not quite sure, either, but is also happy to put it down to "Just a co-incidence". If it turns out not to be, you heard it here, first Views 35, Upvotes 9