xyloFUN said: If I were you, I'd call the tank "Photics" instead. Wouldn't that be beneficial for you as you build your brand?
Photics is more of a wizard type, TANK is more of a fighter type. It's consistent with my previous use of the two characters. Example, if I was playing a Paladin in World of Warcraft, I'd likely name him "TANK" and I'd name a Mage "Photics".
In Photics: Revisions, it's Miles "Hank" Mulligan and Philip Otis. That's basically Tank and Photics. I've been thinking about how out how the two story lines could overlap... where "TANK" is named after Miles Mulligan.
the reason I was suggesting it is that in time, "photics" will be known and people will search in itunes which would give you the advantage of displaying all your work. Since you already have the gs textbook, now this game and what ever else you are doing next, it could be an advantage. For example, if someone searches for "composers", all my stuff will come up including many famous composers but still, my apps are all on page one because of that word.
If someone searches for "Photics" in iTunes, they'll get a listing of all my apps. If someones searches for "Photics" through Google or Bing, they'll get my website.
While adding the newest enemy to BOT, I remembered other Sci-Fi enemies... like ED-209 from Robocop or the AT-ST from Star Wars... a giant... scary... walking and shooting machine. I started getting that feeling in BOT. It was like... whoa... that's a little creepy. The animation is pretty cool. I even made it fall down before it explodes.
Then I realized... hey... this should be bigger... so I bumped it up to 256x256 for retina displays. So, it's another boss for the game.
But while testing it, I realized a big problem. Something seems screwy with Retina Display graphics. Preview mode revealed big issues, like 49 MB usage on an iPod Touch (Second Generation) and much slower performance. I probably should run an ad-hoc version to see what's up with the graphics.
I think GameSalad should allow manual selection of Retina Display graphics. the @2x stuff should happen client-side, not server side.
I wanted to launch before the end of May, but I'm glad that I didn't. BOT would probably get crushed by all of the sales from big game companies.
The feeling I have now is incredible. I'm happy. I feel that BOT is just about ready to launch. The game is pretty solid and professional.
I'm still doing some ad-hoc testing. I found some minor issues... mainly with device orientation and graphics visibility. GameSalad doesn't have an option to show the Box2D collision shapes. So, I have to turn on the graphics of my invisible actors. Now that the game is almost done, I can turn off the graphics on the hit boxes. To visualize this, there's a good article on Photics.com...
Even though BOT is a 2D game, I used different types of hit-boxes to create a sense of depth... there are holes, low walls and walls. This allows for things like Gold coins falling into an abyss or a mountain rock blocking shots. Much of the work on this project was creating the backgrounds and then customized collision shapes to correspond with the images. I think the result is a fun game to explore.
I still find it funny when I get lost in my own game. I figure it will take an above average gamer about 1-2 full days to unlock all 35 areas. And while it isn't necessary, I figure it will take about 10 days to unlock all weapons. From there, it will take about 180 days to reach the maximum score on Game Center. That's a rough calculation. I'm thinking that players might figure out strategies that I didn't... but I do have experience at MMORPG testing. I looked out for gold farming exploits.
There was one major issue discovered today. Survivor mode isn't going to work. It cripples older iOS hardware. While it was fun fighting dozens of enemies, it's just too risky. After playing on a Second Generation iPod Touch, the only time the game crashed was in Survivor mode. I could add a counter to limit the amount of enemies, but that would make things boring. I don't want to add half a feature, so I'll have to figure out something else.
I still have to add some quests. The Soccer Ball one is cool, but it's not going to work if it's the only quest. The plan for tomorrow is to add more quests and finish up the last area. Maybe the two will tie together. I'm not sure.
I feel very happy, but it's also surreal. I've been working on this game for so long that I have trouble believing that the game will be sent to Apple before the weekend is out. If tomorrow is an extremely productive day, BOT could be sent to Apple tomorrow. That seems unlikely though. Some more testing is probably a good idea.
There is something that concerns me. Yodapollo mentioned that another update to GameSalad is scheduled for June. That's interesting... I started wondering if I should delay BOT. Is it early June or late June? I then realized that there was no need to wait. I'll just have to remember to click the "Enable Resolution Independence" box.
I've also been thinking about my next project. What if BOT is a failure? What will I work on next? Here's are some possibilities...
• Update The Unofficial GameSalad Textbook App (Highly Likely) • Arcading (Highly Likely, even if BOT fails) • Expand iOS reviews (Touch Arcade annoyed me. Photics.com could be a competitive site.)
I also have ideas for many more apps. It depends on how BOT does. But even before I know that, there is still a lot of work to do. BOT still needs a promo video and I'll be sending out promo codes to major review sites. I'm thinking of leaving Touch Arcade off the list. That site had the chance to be cool, they blew it. GameSalad should not be dismissed as a kid's toy or underpowered software. Sure, there are issues with GameSalad, but I'm very happy with the software overall. Will BOT lead to vindication for GameSalad... and vindication for me? Soon the world will know.
I have one question... Is it possible to leave the GameSalad logo out of an app, if you pay for Pro? I should know this, because I know you can add your own splash, but do they add their's after your own? GameSalad makes people nervous about if a game is good or bad, so, if you can, it would probably be better to hold off the credit towards GameSalad until the very end of the game. I hope dearly that this app does well, because it would shine light on this great software, however I have my own doubts. After BOT I think that you should work on The Unofficial GameSalad Textbook, and any other game ideas you have. Just because Touch Arcade is biased against GameSalad games doesn't mean you have to create a competing website, especially in an already flocked market. Just some of my opinions, also I think you should hold off until the next update, because you should make BOT the best it can be right at the start so that it attracts customers.
oberning said: I think you should hold off until the next update, because you should make BOT the best it can be right at the start so that it attracts customers.
It is a serious concern, but I don't know what I'd be waiting for. Here's the roadmap for Spring...
• GameCenter leader boards - I have this! • Image flipping - Nice, but not too much memory savings for BOT. • Memory leak fixes - I'm thinking this is with the creator • Save format stability - I don't know what this is. • Text input with iOS keyboard - Not needed for BOT • GameSalad Arcade 2.0 - This is probably GameSalad.com stuff. • Project Masala - I'm not sure what this is.
I don't see a reason to wait. The stuff in the Summer is nice, but that could be for an update. If anything, I think I should hurry. The next update could bring more issues. Right now BOT is pretty stable.
As for the logo, there is no mention of GameSalad in the game at all. The loading screen is also the title screen. This minimizes the loading times. I contacted GameSalad and asked if they wanted to do something special, but there was no reply.
I've been wondering if GameSalad should be part of the marketing. Do I lead off with... "From the author of The Unofficial GameSalad Textbook"... but it is probably better if I don't mention GameSalad directly. I think it's better to just let the players play. Then, they can follow the links back to Photics.com (and my other apps) where they can learn about GameSalad.
I think you could wait until Masala is out. No one except GameSalad and Apple know what it is, but it's been glorified to just skip it. Wait until the Masala is cooked.
Oaklandasfan said: I think you could wait until Masala is out. No one except GameSalad and Apple know what it is, but it's been glorified to just skip it. Wait until the Masala is cooked.
NextGenEntertainment said: So is Masala not as good as we are expecting?
I theorized that Masala is HTML 5 / web based game editing. Look at Apple, they'll be "unveiling" iCloud next week. That's the type of technology could be considered "face-melting" for GameSalad, as it would open up the software to the other 90% of computer users.
What would this do for BOT though?! ...well... nothing! I already have a Mac and I don't like cloud computing. So if my suspicion is correct, there's no need to wait. That could be what Tshirtbooth means. It could also mean that Masala is coming much later.
It doesn't matter. The game has to launch!
I'm planning to finish BOT today. If not today, probably by this weekend.
"We can't stop all of them, but we can give them one humungous repair bill."
It's done! I love it!
I'm waiting for the server to send back an Ad-Hoc build of BOT. Once it's done, I'll do some light testing, take some screenshots and then the final build of the app is off to Apple!
I'm so excited. I love this game!
I was struggling with how to end the game. I want BOT to run on old devices. Maybe not perfectly, but at least playable. Today, I think I was able to hit the equilibrium between cool and compatible.
Have you seen the Transformers movie? Not the crappy Michael Bay ones... I mean the original cartoon version. Hot Rod and Kup are surrounded by the sharkticons. The heroes are surrounded by these monsters, and they're trying to stay alive. I remembered that battle while testing the final area of BOT — the survival stage.
I added a second Leaderboard to BOT. The goal is to last as long as possible, while the robo wasps attack TANK. I picked the machine gun — level 4 — and it was exciting. The enemies approach from a 360° range. The heavy clouds obscure view. Night vision is being used to see clearly. The critters attack, they explode, more replace them. I think it's a good end-game... like in old kung-fu flicks, where the hero is surrounded and then killed. Except, in this game, the goal is to get back to the save point and post the score on Game Center.
I adjusted the difficulty. The game is somewhat easier now. I did this to make Stealth more useful. Additionally, I think there's a nice balance. The end-game is challenging, so there's no need to crush the beginners. The quests also help to get the gold flowing.
One of the final touches was to add a link to http://photics.com. I think I can post useful information about the game on my website. There is one easter-egg in the game. I'm also planning to include a cheat-code on the Mac Desktop version.
I'm so excited! I made it... but this is only the beginning. The next step is marketing. It's going to be a busy week for me!
SlickZeroHouston, TexasMember, Sous ChefPosts: 2,870
Grats on finishing it! Can't wait to see how well it does.
So, about nine hours later, I'm still trying to finish things up. There's only one problem remaining. I've been fighting with it for many hours now. For some strange reason, my "Survivor" score isn't listing in Game Center.
This is one of those moments where GameSalad is a bad SDK.
See, I can't just test Game Center in the previewer. I can't test in the GS Viewer. I have to create an ad-hoc version of the game and download it to my iOS devices. That means roughly 20 minutes of waiting while the file uploads, processes, downloads, signs and saves. It's very boring.
I watched most of the keynote speech from yesterday's developer conference, while waiting for GameSalad to finish. Then, once the test is done, I have to figure out why it doesn't work.
Right now I'm thinking the leaderboard issue is because I'm trying to save two leaderboard scores at once. I previously tried using a one-second timer to separate the two, but that didn't work. Now I used the new "Off" button to disable the gold saving. I'm trying to pinpoint if it's something that I screwed up or if it's another one of those weird GameSalad glitches.
This is frustrating, but I remember that times like these are great for The Unofficial GameSalad Textbook. I'm learning about tedious things, like decimal places. Apparently, I can't just chuck any old number at Apple. It seems to want whole numbers.
I'm tired and hungry. I should probably go to sleep, but I'm so closed to finished.
So after my power nap, I went to check my new app. I had set it to upload as I went to bed, so a working app was waiting for me when I woke up. All of the problems are resolved. I had to split up the sending of Game Center data. They're no longer sitting next to each other on the bus... they're not even on the same street anymore.
Also, a bit of a rant was forming on the Touch Arcade forums. Apparently, the 15 gold charge to save the game is like a violent affront on someone's gaming religion. So, I decided to take a look at the loot system one more time.
Whoa... my game is a bit stingy. So, I'm dramatically increasing the amount of gold that enters the system. With the new Survivor ladder, there isn't a need to excessively drag out the amount of gold that a player has.
11:26 am... I'm uploading BOT to Apple right now! That means BOT should be available for sale next week.
Up next — Translation.
Also, I think I'm going to wait for the next update to GameSalad before I update the Textbook. Yodapollo did mention a June update, so I think it makes more sense to just update the App once.
Comments
Wouldn't that be beneficial for you as you build your brand?
In Photics: Revisions, it's Miles "Hank" Mulligan and Philip Otis. That's basically Tank and Photics. I've been thinking about how out how the two story lines could overlap... where "TANK" is named after Miles Mulligan.
the reason I was suggesting it is that in time, "photics" will be known and people will search in itunes which would give you the advantage of displaying all your work.
Since you already have the gs textbook, now this game and what ever else you are doing next, it could be an advantage.
For example, if someone searches for "composers", all my stuff will come up including many famous composers but still, my apps are all on page one because of that word.
But you have a good point there Mr Wizard
All the best with sales and an apple feature!
Darren.
Walker
While adding the newest enemy to BOT, I remembered other Sci-Fi enemies... like ED-209 from Robocop or the AT-ST from Star Wars... a giant... scary... walking and shooting machine. I started getting that feeling in BOT. It was like... whoa... that's a little creepy. The animation is pretty cool. I even made it fall down before it explodes.
Then I realized... hey... this should be bigger... so I bumped it up to 256x256 for retina displays. So, it's another boss for the game.
But while testing it, I realized a big problem. Something seems screwy with Retina Display graphics. Preview mode revealed big issues, like 49 MB usage on an iPod Touch (Second Generation) and much slower performance. I probably should run an ad-hoc version to see what's up with the graphics.
I think GameSalad should allow manual selection of Retina Display graphics. the @2x stuff should happen client-side, not server side.
I wanted to launch before the end of May, but I'm glad that I didn't. BOT would probably get crushed by all of the sales from big game companies.
OB
Almost Done!
The feeling I have now is incredible. I'm happy. I feel that BOT is just about ready to launch. The game is pretty solid and professional.
I'm still doing some ad-hoc testing. I found some minor issues... mainly with device orientation and graphics visibility. GameSalad doesn't have an option to show the Box2D collision shapes. So, I have to turn on the graphics of my invisible actors. Now that the game is almost done, I can turn off the graphics on the hit boxes. To visualize this, there's a good article on Photics.com...
http://photics.com/hit-boxes-using-rectangles-to-make-complex-shapes
Even though BOT is a 2D game, I used different types of hit-boxes to create a sense of depth... there are holes, low walls and walls. This allows for things like Gold coins falling into an abyss or a mountain rock blocking shots. Much of the work on this project was creating the backgrounds and then customized collision shapes to correspond with the images. I think the result is a fun game to explore.
I still find it funny when I get lost in my own game. I figure it will take an above average gamer about 1-2 full days to unlock all 35 areas. And while it isn't necessary, I figure it will take about 10 days to unlock all weapons. From there, it will take about 180 days to reach the maximum score on Game Center. That's a rough calculation. I'm thinking that players might figure out strategies that I didn't... but I do have experience at MMORPG testing. I looked out for gold farming exploits.
There was one major issue discovered today. Survivor mode isn't going to work. It cripples older iOS hardware. While it was fun fighting dozens of enemies, it's just too risky. After playing on a Second Generation iPod Touch, the only time the game crashed was in Survivor mode. I could add a counter to limit the amount of enemies, but that would make things boring. I don't want to add half a feature, so I'll have to figure out something else.
I still have to add some quests. The Soccer Ball one is cool, but it's not going to work if it's the only quest. The plan for tomorrow is to add more quests and finish up the last area. Maybe the two will tie together. I'm not sure.
I feel very happy, but it's also surreal. I've been working on this game for so long that I have trouble believing that the game will be sent to Apple before the weekend is out. If tomorrow is an extremely productive day, BOT could be sent to Apple tomorrow. That seems unlikely though. Some more testing is probably a good idea.
There is something that concerns me. Yodapollo mentioned that another update to GameSalad is scheduled for June. That's interesting... I started wondering if I should delay BOT. Is it early June or late June? I then realized that there was no need to wait. I'll just have to remember to click the "Enable Resolution Independence" box.
I've also been thinking about my next project. What if BOT is a failure? What will I work on next? Here's are some possibilities...
• Update The Unofficial GameSalad Textbook App (Highly Likely)
• Arcading (Highly Likely, even if BOT fails)
• Expand iOS reviews (Touch Arcade annoyed me. Photics.com could be a competitive site.)
I also have ideas for many more apps. It depends on how BOT does. But even before I know that, there is still a lot of work to do. BOT still needs a promo video and I'll be sending out promo codes to major review sites. I'm thinking of leaving Touch Arcade off the list. That site had the chance to be cool, they blew it. GameSalad should not be dismissed as a kid's toy or underpowered software. Sure, there are issues with GameSalad, but I'm very happy with the software overall. Will BOT lead to vindication for GameSalad... and vindication for me? Soon the world will know.
OB
• GameCenter leader boards - I have this!
• Image flipping - Nice, but not too much memory savings for BOT.
• Memory leak fixes - I'm thinking this is with the creator
• Save format stability - I don't know what this is.
• Text input with iOS keyboard - Not needed for BOT
• GameSalad Arcade 2.0 - This is probably GameSalad.com stuff.
• Project Masala - I'm not sure what this is.
I don't see a reason to wait. The stuff in the Summer is nice, but that could be for an update. If anything, I think I should hurry. The next update could bring more issues. Right now BOT is pretty stable.
As for the logo, there is no mention of GameSalad in the game at all. The loading screen is also the title screen. This minimizes the loading times. I contacted GameSalad and asked if they wanted to do something special, but there was no reply.
I've been wondering if GameSalad should be part of the marketing. Do I lead off with... "From the author of The Unofficial GameSalad Textbook"... but it is probably better if I don't mention GameSalad directly. I think it's better to just let the players play. Then, they can follow the links back to Photics.com (and my other apps) where they can learn about GameSalad.
QS
Dr. Sam Beckett never returned home...
Twitter: https://twitter.com/Quantum_Sheep
Web: https://quantumsheep.itch.io
Edit-
@quantumsheep- whoops, my bad. You can probably delete this if you wish.
What would this do for BOT though?! ...well... nothing! I already have a Mac and I don't like cloud computing. So if my suspicion is correct, there's no need to wait. That could be what Tshirtbooth means. It could also mean that Masala is coming much later.
It doesn't matter. The game has to launch!
I'm planning to finish BOT today. If not today, probably by this weekend.
"We can't stop all of them, but we can give them one humungous repair bill."
It's done! I love it!
I'm waiting for the server to send back an Ad-Hoc build of BOT. Once it's done, I'll do some light testing, take some screenshots and then the final build of the app is off to Apple!
I'm so excited. I love this game!
I was struggling with how to end the game. I want BOT to run on old devices. Maybe not perfectly, but at least playable. Today, I think I was able to hit the equilibrium between cool and compatible.
Have you seen the Transformers movie? Not the crappy Michael Bay ones... I mean the original cartoon version. Hot Rod and Kup are surrounded by the sharkticons. The heroes are surrounded by these monsters, and they're trying to stay alive. I remembered that battle while testing the final area of BOT — the survival stage.
I added a second Leaderboard to BOT. The goal is to last as long as possible, while the robo wasps attack TANK. I picked the machine gun — level 4 — and it was exciting. The enemies approach from a 360° range. The heavy clouds obscure view. Night vision is being used to see clearly. The critters attack, they explode, more replace them. I think it's a good end-game... like in old kung-fu flicks, where the hero is surrounded and then killed. Except, in this game, the goal is to get back to the save point and post the score on Game Center.
I adjusted the difficulty. The game is somewhat easier now. I did this to make Stealth more useful. Additionally, I think there's a nice balance. The end-game is challenging, so there's no need to crush the beginners. The quests also help to get the gold flowing.
One of the final touches was to add a link to http://photics.com. I think I can post useful information about the game on my website. There is one easter-egg in the game. I'm also planning to include a cheat-code on the Mac Desktop version.
I'm so excited! I made it... but this is only the beginning. The next step is marketing. It's going to be a busy week for me!
"Light testing — HA!"
So, about nine hours later, I'm still trying to finish things up. There's only one problem remaining. I've been fighting with it for many hours now. For some strange reason, my "Survivor" score isn't listing in Game Center.
This is one of those moments where GameSalad is a bad SDK.
See, I can't just test Game Center in the previewer. I can't test in the GS Viewer. I have to create an ad-hoc version of the game and download it to my iOS devices. That means roughly 20 minutes of waiting while the file uploads, processes, downloads, signs and saves. It's very boring.
I watched most of the keynote speech from yesterday's developer conference, while waiting for GameSalad to finish. Then, once the test is done, I have to figure out why it doesn't work.
Right now I'm thinking the leaderboard issue is because I'm trying to save two leaderboard scores at once. I previously tried using a one-second timer to separate the two, but that didn't work. Now I used the new "Off" button to disable the gold saving. I'm trying to pinpoint if it's something that I screwed up or if it's another one of those weird GameSalad glitches.
This is frustrating, but I remember that times like these are great for The Unofficial GameSalad Textbook. I'm learning about tedious things, like decimal places. Apparently, I can't just chuck any old number at Apple. It seems to want whole numbers.
I'm tired and hungry. I should probably go to sleep, but I'm so closed to finished.
"Grinding!"
I slept for 3 1/2 hours. It was nice. HA!
So after my power nap, I went to check my new app. I had set it to upload as I went to bed, so a working app was waiting for me when I woke up. All of the problems are resolved. I had to split up the sending of Game Center data. They're no longer sitting next to each other on the bus... they're not even on the same street anymore.
Also, a bit of a rant was forming on the Touch Arcade forums. Apparently, the 15 gold charge to save the game is like a violent affront on someone's gaming religion. So, I decided to take a look at the loot system one more time.
Whoa... my game is a bit stingy. So, I'm dramatically increasing the amount of gold that enters the system. With the new Survivor ladder, there isn't a need to excessively drag out the amount of gold that a player has.
Up next — Translation.
Also, I think I'm going to wait for the next update to GameSalad before I update the Textbook. Yodapollo did mention a June update, so I think it makes more sense to just update the App once.