Developments

My laptop's been running slow, sluggish, juddery and .. generally BAD, since some time yesterday, and as much as I hunt the system, I'm struggling to find the reason why. I think it might have something to do with Windows noticing the Mac on the network, and freaking out, thinking it's going to be replaced! .. Acting all slow and useless isn't going to get you extra loving, Windows! Learn how to show off your skills, and act like a proper computer!! Even as I type today's blo...

Developments

Yesterday, I took the phrase "Sleepy Sunday" and worked the heck out it. My cat woke me up at 6:15am, and I managed to stay mostly awake until just after 9, when I realised I was too tired to code, and instead went for a nap.. .. A long nap!! I also had a second nap later in the day, too. Ooops! I suppose when you have little/nothing else to do, especially on a Sunday, that there's no harm in having a short nap. But when you have TWO naps, and they're not exactly short ones, y...

Developments

Not a lot of coding got done, yesterday. I continued to fiddle with the new sprites, and got enemies spawning in the level, but then I started thinking about iOS again. For the past year I've been focussing on OUYA. I've been making all my games controller happy, and as a result, have been neglecting touchscreen controls. I'm not sure why, probably all the AppleWatch stuff that's currently flooding my Twitter feed, but I'm finding myself somewhat nostalgic for the times that I s...

Developments

Not an awful lot of stuff got done, yesterday, as I was having a bit of an off-day! Ho hum.. They're frequent, so expect a fair number of Daily Blogs to be of the "Couldn't do anything!" variety. Still, I did bother to grab the iPad, load up Sprite Something, and doodle some sprites for the new game. I drew a ship, a number of weapons, and some enemies, before heading over to Windows and getting them all integrated into the game. It didn't take very long at all, but it does inde...

Welcome to the new daily blog section of AGameAWeek.com. I could do with reorganising the layout of the site, if I'm honest!

Yesterday

Yesterday I did a few odd little bits and pieces. I got "bombs" to work in the new engine, and managed to get a feel for the game. So far, so good. I think! (URL "https://AGameAWeek.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/410_001.png"><img src="https://AGameAWeek.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/410_001-300x225.png" alt="410_001" width="300" height="225" class="...

Bah, it's Thursday, already, and I've still not gotten a proper start on this next game. You know what, this whole "Gap Year" thing... .. It's not working out, is it? Instead of coding with a vague deadline, I'm spending every day doing nothing, relaxing, and generally being a lazy bum. I'm supposed to be working on SOMETHING, but instead I've watched an entire season of Castle over the past few days. And this is roughly how my days are going, lately. TV watching, resting, playing Words With Friends,...

Another big gap, as I try to figure out what's happening next. I figured you guys oughta be kept up to date with current goings on, in the world of AGameAWeek, so here's a rough bit of blogging so that you can vaguely assume you know what's going on! Current projects are.. 1. Kee Bo Ard Go Deep Another sequel in the Kee Bo Ard collection. I've so far built a fairly capable engine, but am struggling to decide exactly what I'd like to do with it. I've got the game up to a "You can complete a level" po...

A few days ago, I reposted the Conspicuous AL Bum over to Archive.org, where it's available to listen live, stream, download or whatever. Tonight, I did the same thing to the Enigmatically AL Bum! That's pretty much every music track from 2014, available online, in an easy to access format. (URL "https://archive.org/details/ConspicuousAlBum"><img src="https://AGameAWeek.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/AL_Conspicuous-300x300.jpg" alt="AL_Conspicuous" width="300" height="300" class="alignnone size-m...

Since 2014, I've been using the wonderful KORG Gadget app on iPad to create most of my ingame music. Each week or so, I make a new silly tune, and upload it to Soundcloud where people get to hear it, and then eventually the tracks get dumped into my various games, willy nilly. As a way to keep track of my tunes (since there's so many of them) I've recently taken to naming each album a single word title, and then giving each track an alphabetical name.. So, first track is "Album A", then Album B, Album ...

Invisible Munky is BACK! It only took 10 years for Invisible Munky to re-appear*, and in that time, it's learned an excellent new skill. <img src="https://AGameAWeek.com/complete/Invisible_Munky_2_20150330B_thumb.png"> <img src="https://AGameAWeek.com/complete/Invisible_Munky_2_20150330A_thumb.png">

I say "slow", but of course, I mean "Slow in the realm of AGameAWeek!" I've been working on Invisible Munky 2 for nearly THREE WEEKS, now! Blimey, that went fast! I'm currently working on building levels, and trying to keep the momentum of the game flowing in a decent manner. I'm also trying to add a decent mix of music, but it's all kinda samey. I might have to head in a completely different melodical direction, or something. *shrugs* Not sure! Anyway, the game currently contains 9 levels, and the...

The engine's working nicely, an art style has been defined, and things are getting put together. I've started building some proper levels, now, but already the game's feeling like it's still missing something. At the moment, I'm attempting to add wandering bad-guys into the levels, which should help make things a little less lacklustre, but trying to get them to wander nicely within the areas is proving to be much more complicated than I thought, especially when the levels are build up with nothing more t...

Tentatively titled "Invisible Munky 2 - Happy Banana Land!" because... why not! ( width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/nOvzVa-4EV4" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen>> So, um.. Yeah.. The engine seems to be working well, although I've not added too much yet. I need to design proper levels for this one, and I also have an object limit, which will be odd to have to deal with.. Curious! Anyhoo, the game's been started, and assuming ...

I've had a fair amount of fun playing with Unity, but in all honesty, I haven't progressed far enough to make it worth the switch. I'm at the point, now, where I really need to make the big decision. Making the complete switch to Unity will require heavy work, recreating my entire framework, and getting everything up and running smoothly enough that I can rapidly cobble together AGameAWeek. And it's the "Rapidly cobble together AGameAWeek" bit that puts me off. At the moment, and I'll admit I am still t...

March 6th 2012 : Taken into hospital with High Blood Pressure and Vomiting March 8th 2012 : Brain Surgery for Tumour removal. Previous Health Updates (URL "https://AGameAWeek.com/2012/08/home-again-home-again-jiggity-jig/">Aug 2012), (URL "https://AGameAWeek.com/2014/02/health-update/">Feb 2014), (URL "https://AGameAWeek.com/2014/08/health-update-august-2014/">Aug 2014) 2012 wasn't a very fun year for me. I spent the better part of 5 months stuck in a hospital ward, and most of that time I...

You might've noticed a certain lack of content, lately. I'm not sure why this is, if I'm honest. I keep starting new things, and giving up too quickly. So, um, what to do..? Well, yesterday, Unity 5 was released, and they've made it entirely (mostly) free to use. This is a bit of a shock, and as I type this, Unity 5 is installing in the background. I'm going to give it a whirl. I figure that, since I'm not actually releasing anything lately, I might as well have some fun and try something new. ...

As has become a tradition on iOS, My Birthday = Free Spikes for Everybody!! (URL "https://AGameAWeek.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/IMG_8419.png"><img src="https://AGameAWeek.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/IMG_8419.png" alt="(null)" class="alignnone size-full" /> This is, alarmingly, the fifth year that I've done this, and .. Honestly, that's scary!! I can't believe that SpikeDislike is now five years old! Anyway, there it is, and it still happily r...

This week, we had the roof of our house redone. Old slates off, new framework build, new slates on. It's been a lengthy job, and certainly not one I can glance up at very much.. (My current balance-less health issues have made looking up ludicrously difficult!) Always makes me feel lazy, sitting around and watching other people do big jobs like that, but. .. There's not a lot I can help with, so it's best to stay out of the way. Meanwhile, the loud banging and clattering has been waking me up brig...

Game scrapped. Kinda scrapped. Mostly scrapped. (URL "https://AGameAWeek.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/GameJolt-Thumbnail_3.png"><img src="https://AGameAWeek.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/GameJolt-Thumbnail_3-1024x576.png" alt="GameJolt-Thumbnail_3" width="590" height="332" class="alignnone size-large wp-image-4452" /> I might come back to it at a later date, when the idea's a little more "rested", but I think that re-attempting it so soon after do...

I might scrap YBox. .. Or should I release as-is? I'm unsure. I got most of the game working, but it's run out of steam, and is rather bland and uneventful. Um.. *shrugs* we'll see.

Hey, d'you have a GameStick? *tumbleweed* Well, for those who DO, you can now grab Alpha Collexion from the GameStick frontend doohickey, and give it a whirl. (URL "https://AGameAWeek.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/GameJolt-Header_1.png"><img src="https://AGameAWeek.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/GameJolt-Header_1.png" alt="GameJolt-Header_1" width="950" height="250" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-4159" /> The game seems to work ok, but for ...

( src="https://vine.co/v/OUiq2geYJlZ/embed/simple" width="480" height="480" frameborder="0">><script src="https://platform.vine.co/static/scripts/embed.js"></script> If you played through Alpha Collexion, that should look familiar. For my next game, I'm doing that again! "YBox Drops" or "YBox Falls" or something like that.. I'll be adding optional skins, making the rules a little clearer, and coming up with some new gameplay mechanics along th...

Monday : I randomly decided to buy a Pebble Watch from Amazon. Tuesday : The Pebble Watch arrived, and I experimented by making a (URL "https://apps.getpebble.com/applications/54d115812a56ee50e0000005">Platdude WatchFace). Wednesday : (URL "https://apps.getpebble.com/applications/54d29517e4d94c04cc000026">SpikeDislike Jr!!) I expected to have to download a complicated devkit to get it all going, but was pleasantly surprised to find out that, in actual fact, you can do it entirely online. The IDE...

Time to hunt for your floppy disks!! <img src="https://AGameAWeek.com/complete/Futrino_20150129A_thumb.png"> <img src="https://AGameAWeek.com/complete/Futrino_20150129B_thumb.png">

( width="560" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/p1SAOYZdjPw" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen>> Plenty added today, and loads more to add, too. If all goes well, the game should be popping up by Tuesday. Woot!! Having LOTS of fun playing this game, and it's a fairly tricky game, too. Mmmmm

Prepare for a fully featured level! ( width="560" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/vpYpzEgBtic" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen>> Although, be aware that by the time you get to play it, this level may be different. Most of the basics are in there. There's a couple of baddies, a couple of weapons, collectables, and other bits and pieces. I've yet to add powerups (shield would be handy!) and the "Level Complete" could look a little bit less shit! ...

(URL "https://AGameAWeek.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/Futrino_001.png"><img src="https://AGameAWeek.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/Futrino_001.png" alt="Futrino_001" width="640" height="480" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-4374" /> I finally seem to have settled on a name for this thing. I think it sounds vaguely like an 80s Shoot-em-up might sound, and nobody else appears to have used it. I've spent today working on the Enemy Types, trying lots...