Just as I thought development of Phoenix was nearing the end, it seem's I have hit a brick wall. I have found what I can only see as a bug in the software (not a bug in the game) that I am using to develop the game. The bug does not stop me designing and creating the levels, but it really does stop the game being a polished one. I am not going to be releasing this in August it seems, as there is a major update to the software coming up in the next 2 months, so I will have to wait until then :(
The good news is, I can carry on with Apollo, which is more or less finished code wise (apart from a few things), but there's a lot of work needed for the graphics, this is the only major work that needs to be done for that.
We have also started working on another app, the app is not a graphical app, so the app should be finished in 2-4 weeks. I will give this the code name of "Socrates". Socrates will be a free app, and this is a type of app that seems to be popular in the last couple of months. The game will contain iAds, and Game Center leaderboards. I am unsure about achievements at the moment, but I will think about it.
We will also be busy partaking in a game design contest on http://totgb.com/page/game-design-contests (Think Outside The Game Box). The theme is yet to be announced (announced on 5th August), but if the contest seems like something we can do, then we will do it. It will be our first contest, and we look forward to competing against other developers.
Keep reading, I will post updates on the development of Apollo on Socrates.
G
Monday 30 July 2012
Friday 13 July 2012
Level Design
Well level designing and creation is well under way, but it is taking a lot longer than we expected (damn!). It was intended that all the first 25 levels would have been finished by 2nd July, but it seems there will be a slight delay in sending out beta versions of the game out for testing.
The reason for the delay is that we did not anticipate that level creation would be that hard. Yes, it is hard, especially if you have 25 levels (Free version) to create. We have to try and keep the levels entertaining and that each levels become more hard and more thought is needed to complete. We also want to try and not use all of our obstacle objects in the first 25 levels. The first 25 levels (in both Free and paid version) is more of a introduction to the game, the first 5, are the most simple levels, no major obstacles, just a quick way to learn what to do. Then from level 6 onwards, we introduce a new obstacle. These obstacles can either be on your side or against you it all depends.
We have thought of three more obstacles to be implemented, these will be a special feature in the paid version along with a few others which have already been implemented. I anticipate to use 2 - 3 major obstacles in the free version, but the last level in the free version (level 25 (free version only)) I implement a level which includes all the current obstacles as preview of what to expect if they want to purchase the full game.
When we finish all of the 25 levels, I will announce the actual name of the game, and release one game play screenshot. So stay tuned (within the next few weeks or so).
Cheers,
The reason for the delay is that we did not anticipate that level creation would be that hard. Yes, it is hard, especially if you have 25 levels (Free version) to create. We have to try and keep the levels entertaining and that each levels become more hard and more thought is needed to complete. We also want to try and not use all of our obstacle objects in the first 25 levels. The first 25 levels (in both Free and paid version) is more of a introduction to the game, the first 5, are the most simple levels, no major obstacles, just a quick way to learn what to do. Then from level 6 onwards, we introduce a new obstacle. These obstacles can either be on your side or against you it all depends.
We have thought of three more obstacles to be implemented, these will be a special feature in the paid version along with a few others which have already been implemented. I anticipate to use 2 - 3 major obstacles in the free version, but the last level in the free version (level 25 (free version only)) I implement a level which includes all the current obstacles as preview of what to expect if they want to purchase the full game.
When we finish all of the 25 levels, I will announce the actual name of the game, and release one game play screenshot. So stay tuned (within the next few weeks or so).
Cheers,
Tuesday 3 July 2012
Universal App is a Go Go!
Well I finally got around to testing if "Phoenix" is playable on iPad, and what we saw was good. There does not seem to be any problems with it, although I did not test on The New iPad, I did test on the retina iPad simulator, and from what I saw, everything should be A OK :) . We are now implementing our first 25 levels, once that has finished we will split the game into two projects (free and paid).
We finished our social network integration code, in the end we opted for the easy way, similar to a tweet/post button on a website. This seems like the easier option, until we can get our hands on the Facbook/Twitter iOS API, which when we can, will be one of the first updates in the game.
Also we spotted a few minor bugs during our alpha testing, and those have been rectified, which is great. So we anticipate to finish the first 25 levels by the 9th July, and we will be passing the Lite/Free version on to our beta testers, and hopefully there won't be any major bugs. I anticipate the testers to have a few comments on some improvemetns on the game (which is expected really), and we will take all onboard. All improvemetns that we feel that are necessary we will do, but for other not important, we might keep them for an upcoming update.
Whilst testing the other day, we got an idea for another game mode or even a different game entirely but with the same graphics. We thought this idea was crazy and fun, and we thought it would be an amazing iPad only game (seeing that the screen space much larger than iPhone/iPod). We have decided to make the new gamemode an upcoming project for the end of this year, and codename "Phoenix-Assemble". We might include a different version of this idea in "Phoenix" 2.0, which we will optimize for iPod/Phone.
Hopefully in the next few blog posts I can post some sort of image as a teaser for you guys.
Cheers,
We finished our social network integration code, in the end we opted for the easy way, similar to a tweet/post button on a website. This seems like the easier option, until we can get our hands on the Facbook/Twitter iOS API, which when we can, will be one of the first updates in the game.
Also we spotted a few minor bugs during our alpha testing, and those have been rectified, which is great. So we anticipate to finish the first 25 levels by the 9th July, and we will be passing the Lite/Free version on to our beta testers, and hopefully there won't be any major bugs. I anticipate the testers to have a few comments on some improvemetns on the game (which is expected really), and we will take all onboard. All improvemetns that we feel that are necessary we will do, but for other not important, we might keep them for an upcoming update.
Whilst testing the other day, we got an idea for another game mode or even a different game entirely but with the same graphics. We thought this idea was crazy and fun, and we thought it would be an amazing iPad only game (seeing that the screen space much larger than iPhone/iPod). We have decided to make the new gamemode an upcoming project for the end of this year, and codename "Phoenix-Assemble". We might include a different version of this idea in "Phoenix" 2.0, which we will optimize for iPod/Phone.
Hopefully in the next few blog posts I can post some sort of image as a teaser for you guys.
Cheers,
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