Just another brick in the wall!

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

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,

Lite/Free version nearly complete

In the last week or so I have been working hard trying to complete the major bits of code that is stooping us separating the App to one Full version and a Free version.  Yesterday we finished what I think was the hardest bit of code left to do, and all that remains is the finishing touches on all first 25 levels (first 25 will be on Full and Free version), a few graphics for world select and a touch up on some features to get it running smoothly.  I anticipate by next week sometime, we can get the free version into an Alpha testing state, we might even go straight to beta with the free version.  If all goes well, I'll go and add iAds in straight away.

For the full version, once we have completed the split between full and free, we have a lot of work to do.  The major part of this work is the GameCenter Leader Boards and Achievements.   We have decided on the achievements we were going to create, but no graphics have yet to be made for the notifications, badges and no code as been implemented to track the achievements.

We also have to create further 50 levels for the two extra worlds that are bundled in the full version (we are discussing adding extra levels in each world before release).  Once the free version is out in beta, I'll get straight to work with the achievements, as it seems that will be the most time consuming and most problematic.

We will also be testing the universal app feature with the free version, if that goes well, we will most certainly be introducing "Phoenix" as a universal app for all iDevices.

I have also been working on trying to get proper social integration working on my app so that users can post their score on Twitter or on Facebook.  I have spent a lot of time trying to sort it out, but kept running into problems, so it looks that a smooth social integration will be off the cards for now, and I will stick to the old simple way of social integration.

The difference being that the simple less hassle way and the proper integration is just a url that passes a string to twitter and allows the user to post.  The downside of this is, the text appears in an editable box, so the user can type anything he/she wants, which is not desirable really, but if they wan't to cheat that's fine.

The way I was trying to get it was, that it was passing certain variables from the app to my webserver, a php script would be dealing with the request, and send information back and forth between the app and facebook, but it proved to be too big job for me.