This will be the final build for NaGaDeMo. We wanted to do a lot more, but for various reasons this is all we got to. I’ll expand more on what went right and wrong in a later post, but for now all I’ll say is please enjoy. Let me know what you like or don’t like. Hopefully all the bugs have been addressed. Play it below.
Play the latest version here.
Added the visuals for the multiplier bonus, and a timer. If the timer reaches zero, your multiplier is reset. That’s all really. I had an idea for a graphical timer, but couldn’t get it to look right. Maybe later.
Tomorrow, I’ll add in an aiming indicator, and maybe some non-collectible obstacles to help/hinder your progress.
Play the build here.
Some visual changes, added a hideous space background image that doesn’t fit at all. Added back in the grid texture to the arena (not sure how or why that came out). Also added in the multiplier concept. The multiplier is set to the highest number of gems collected at one time, and the value is used to multiply your score for every subsequent collection. However, it resets to 1 if you form a triangle but fail to collect any gems. In the future, it will also reset if you take too long.
There was something else, but I’m really tired, and I hadn’t checked in my code in so long the diffs are useless. Let this be a lesson: Don’t go dark, boys and girls!
Edit: I remember what the other changes were! The gems take longer to blow up, giving you a bit more time to figure out what to do. I did not fix the color matching bugs (gems not collecting when they should). Also, the multiplier value is displayed at the top, and yes I know there’s an alignment problem. It’s just a prototype, I don’t have to have the whole thing finished for, like, 4 more days. Oh jeez…
Play the demo here.
I added the color matching mechanic. Currently there’s only 2 colors, but the code is easily extendable to as many colors as we need. In the end, we’ll probably only use 3 to 5, as I can already tell that the difficultly increases quickly with more colors.
The description of the color matching mechanic, in case you couldn’t figure it out, is that you have to bounce off (or start from) at least 1 surface of a matching color to pick up the gem. So if you try picking up a blue gem, but you start from and bounce off of all red surfaces, you won’t be able to get it.
In the next update, the gems themselves will have multiple colors. To pick up a multicolored gem, you have to bounce off at least 1 surface of a matching color for each color in the gem. I’m tired, so I’m sure none of that makes any sense. You’ll see it when I post it.
I’m posting a build, even though it’s not a lot different from the previous one. The basic gameplay is unchanged, although I tweaked the visual a bit to prepare for the actual art that is soon to come. Behind the scenes, however, I fixed some bugs. You shouldn’t be able to launch the puck out of the arena anymore (at least, I couldn’t, but please let me know if you manage to do so.)
Play it here.
Up next is multiple colored boundaries and gems, with the next major game mechanic. Then it’s probably just polish from there on out.
Play the new version here.
In this build, I added scoring and a losing condition. If you let a gem sit too long, it explodes, ending your game. For scoring, each group that you collect gives you 2^n points, where n is the number of gems in the collection less one. So 1 gem is worth 2^(1-1) = 1; 2 gems are worth 2^(2-1) = 2; 3 are worth 4; 4 are worth 8; etc.
I also added some variations on the sparks, to give you an indication that a gem is about to explode (small blue sparks), and an indication that a gem exploded (big orange sparks).
Play the new version here.
This is the first fun build, in my opinion. There’s still no actual gameplay, but the visuals make it a bit more compelling to toy around with. Changes I introduced are:
Bugs I’m aware of:
Only a couple of hours to work on it, and I’m still moving pretty slow. But here’s a demo where the collectible objects are removed when a triangle is drawn around them.
I got an email from the Apple appstore today that Amazing Brok was rejected. I assumed it would be, since I was sure I’d do something stupid. Turns out I was right!
Amazing Brok is a 2D platformer with over 70 levels of pure awesome (if you ask me). We planned on provided the game for free, but with just a limited number of levels (11 at last count). Then you could buy the remaining levels through in-app purchase. This is a fairly standard set up, or at least I think so. Plus, it gives the user a chance to play the game before deciding to shell out $1 to play it. We preferred this approach to just linking to the full version’s app page in the store since we didn’t want to track multiple product codes and split the rating/review counts.
My mistake was that I used the term “demo” in the app description. In my defense, that’s exactly what it is. However, calling it that is bad. Call it “Lite” or “Free”, but not “Demo”. Who gets a Lite version of an app expecting the full version? I understand Apple’s argument: they want to provide complete experiences. They don’t want your app to promise features that it doesn’t deliver. However, I didn’t want to call it Lite since once you buy the full game it’s not Lite anymore.
So I’ve decide to offer Brok for free, but only include 11 levels. Then, if you want, you can purchase all the levels available at this time via in-app purchase. What you get for free is a complete, stand-on-its-own experience, but there’s an expansion if you want more content. How’s this any different from what I started with?
I suspect that it’ll get rejected at least once more, due to the level buttons being grayed out when they are locked. You unlock them by playing through the game, but it’ll appear to the reviewer that there is still functionality that is inaccessible. However, if that happens, I’ll probably just explain that mechanism (I should have done it before, because there doesn’t appear to be a place to leave comments after submitting.) Fingers crossed!
Moving a bit slower still than I’d like, but it’s getting there. This demo is a bit more interesting, at least it seems like something is happening. The collectible item in the middle of the board goes away regardless of what you do. What should happen is that after a triangle is formed, all collectibles inside will go away. The one there now is just serving as a placeholder, and no test is being made. Also, after objects are collected, more will appear to replace them. That will be the prototype. Then we’ll figure out what we want to do going forward.