Sunday, July 31, 2011

Vacation, Android Phones, and beta testing mysterious new technology

This week is vacation week, and I'm leaving Monday and Tuesday with the family.  I probably will just take the whole week easy so I can regain my inspiration and sanity again.

On the development front, I am now beta testing a new plugin for MMF2.  I don't think I signed an NDA(yet), but I'm not sure they want me spilling all the gritty details since they arn't finalized anyway.  Basically, know that it outputs MMF2 apps to Android OS., through a code translator similar to the Flash MMF2 plugin.  Like the flash plugin, the final files arn't the most efficiant use of space, but they can do everything MMF2's base engine can do plus access many exciting android phone/tablet specific features.  It's very unstable right now and buggy(thus the beta testing, duh).  But it's also exciting.

It also overwrites the normal MMF2 exe currently with a beta version.  While it "should" be safe to work on my flash games so long as I don't touch any android stuff with them, Clickteam doesn't recommend it, and I'd have to agree with them.  So my flash games are on hold while I help grind away all the bugs out of the android beta.  Actually, that isn't entirely true, I can work on my games, I just need to reinstall the base MMF2 over the android beta.  Due to the compiler references for C++, flash, android, ect. , it's not as simple as just installing two copies of MMF2.  Sadly they will read each other's settings and explode, among other fun bugs, so it's one or the other.

The benifits of being a beta tester are, for now, a discount when the plugin launches(price of the plugin is still to be announced, as is release date).  And of course the ability to learn all the nitty gritty details about things like the accelerometer device before the MMF2 plugin is even out, without needing to spend weeks studying and testing java or C++ code.

While I'm not being paid in any way as far as money goes, it's still a fun and useful experience.  It's also pretty cool to be able to suggest feature changes/additions so that when the plugin does come out everyone buying it gets their money's worth.  Plus, as an expert user of MMF2, I already know how to push the MMF2 engine to it's limits, and can dump those to the phone to watch it break down and cry.  (Which it currently does about 50% of the time.  Beta versions of creative development software that does lots of different things are fun!)

Till next time,

Gawain

Tuesday, July 26, 2011

Humble Bundle #3

You all know the drill by now right?  5 awesome indy games, all multiplatform(That means Mac, PC, and Linux), all for whatever price you name.

You can be cheap and pay $1, or supportive and pay however much you think the charity/developer deserves.  Actually, if it's anything like Humble Bundle 2, some people were buying it for $0.01 USD, but that seems kind of mean.

It's split default between both charity and developer, but you can control exactly where every penny of your purchase goes yourself with handy sliders.  PS: They support paypal, bank transfers, and lots of other methods of payment, so if you've got some change lying around in any of those accounts, go for it.)

Go grab a copy for yourself.  There's really, quite literally, no reason not to.  The games are a total value of $50 USD entertainment on their own outside of the bundle when bought seperately.  Quite frankly, VVVVV and Hammerfight alone are well worth the ride.  Crayon Physics is pretty cool too.  And Yet It Moves and Cogs, maybe not so much, but still decent and worth the time at least playing a bit of.  The only thing hard about this purchase is how much fun you think you'll get out of these games for the money you decide to put in.

Why are you still here?  Oh, right, cause I forgot the url.  Here ya go, now get out there and grab it:

http://www.humblebundle.com/

Gawain

Wednesday, July 20, 2011

Not dead yet

The lack of updates here may seem like I'm not doing much.  Actually, I've been doing a lot, just not gaming related.

In Real Life, I've been very busy job hunting.

In between job hunting, I've also been busy helping out some friends of mine with fixing up a house.  It's sort of a "I learn construction from them, they get extra free labor from me" kind of deal.  For now I'm helping when I can, but it's under the understanding that if I get a job that pays money, I'm doing that instead.

Shameless blog plug for their house project coming up:

http://notmuchnewaroundhere.blogspot.com/

Check it out if you want to see what a house looks like when it's been abandoned for 3 years straight.  Eeek!


A lot of my game projects are still in conceptual form, much too early to release any shots or info.  I know I've been saying that a lot, so I've tossed together a quick screenshot for you all to look at.  You'll probably know right away what it is if you've played the other flash game.  I've blurred out most of it because it's very much in conceptual state and not even close to what the final game will look like.


Yep, Smiley has walls that scroll by now...and yes, I am working on a Smiley Gems 2.

The game will have a much more polished, faster paced gameplay of the first game.  I've taken into account a lot of your player feedback for the first game, as well as my own tester's feedback, and I think this new one will make for a much better time killer type of flash game.

Not satisfied with just releasing a refined version of the first Smiley Gems, I've also been working on a new gameplay mode...Volcano Raid.  The screenshot is from this new mode, in case you are wondering why I have walls involved.  The new mode is still very much loose ideas on paper, so I'll have more info to spill once the gameplay is more solidified.  Scoring tables for both modes will be seperate, as the two scores are not comparable at all.

Oh, and the jem/mine spawnings are funny(in a kick someone down a manhole way) and not very fair at all right now.  I got a lot of work formulating and implementing new spawning rules for the gameplay.

As time allows me, I'll continue working on my game projects, and keep you all posted.

I've also recently gotten an Android Phone (Motorola Blur), so I might post some game reviews/recommendations for that as well.  There certainly is a lot of apps and not all of them are that great, so I think I'll post some info to help you all sort through the trash to find the treasures.

I'm also really excited to try developing for the Android if I ever get enough free time to invest in learning the SDK and the billions of tools out there.

Like someone at a crossroads with a broken signpost, I don't know where any of this will lead yet.  But there's no sense standing here waiting, it's time to plow ahead and find out.

Till next time,

Gawain