My Game development so far... Where are you at in your current games?.
StormyStudio
United KingdomMember Posts: 3,989
Not so much a question, just a point of view on where I am with my second GS creation. This time a proper game, a sort of balancing game with a twist, makes use of the physics engine which is fun fun fun.
I've got all the physics working as I'd like and the game concept works well so far. I now need to spend some serious time making the game look professional and finished.
Thought if I wrote it all down on here, it might be of interest, people can chip in with what they do to keep motivated. Plus it means I'm able to kill time at work when I'm away from my GameSalad machine. and it gets me thinking about what is left to do.
I still need to:
-Decide whether it is going to be a levels based game, or a one level timer based, high score type game. I've created one level so far so can go either way.
- Animated backrounds like in 'Canabalt'.
- Either go for hand drawn style graphics, clean vector graphics or minimalist stylish cool.
- Difficulty levels, maybe have easy without timer and hard with timer.
- If there is a timer, I'd like an animated stop watch rather than simple counting numbers.
- If there are levels, create a level unlocked screen, unlocking code setup and a good number of levels, 100?
- Menu Screen/Logo design, want to spend a day or 2 on this, as I'm convinced it must have helped 'Kill the King' having nice artwork. (Plus his game was good too)
- Maybe add Video clips, (short png sequences with audio). To introduce each challenge. (Not full screen shots).
- Add more varied game elements, blocks that shatter, heavier blocks etc etc.
- Create foreground and background objects.
- Sound effects throughout,
- Create music track in GarageBand or on guitar or both, or buy one from Revostock.
- Setup Highscore saving function.
- Then test test test....
- Oh and decide on the final name of the game,
- Build a dedicated web page, some promo videos.
- And try and stay motivated and not start another game before it is perfect and finished.
(Oh and my boss has just brought me a big bag of french fries, and its 11:05 in the morning....brilliant...I'll be obese before this game is completed.)
I've got all the physics working as I'd like and the game concept works well so far. I now need to spend some serious time making the game look professional and finished.
Thought if I wrote it all down on here, it might be of interest, people can chip in with what they do to keep motivated. Plus it means I'm able to kill time at work when I'm away from my GameSalad machine. and it gets me thinking about what is left to do.
I still need to:
-Decide whether it is going to be a levels based game, or a one level timer based, high score type game. I've created one level so far so can go either way.
- Animated backrounds like in 'Canabalt'.
- Either go for hand drawn style graphics, clean vector graphics or minimalist stylish cool.
- Difficulty levels, maybe have easy without timer and hard with timer.
- If there is a timer, I'd like an animated stop watch rather than simple counting numbers.
- If there are levels, create a level unlocked screen, unlocking code setup and a good number of levels, 100?
- Menu Screen/Logo design, want to spend a day or 2 on this, as I'm convinced it must have helped 'Kill the King' having nice artwork. (Plus his game was good too)
- Maybe add Video clips, (short png sequences with audio). To introduce each challenge. (Not full screen shots).
- Add more varied game elements, blocks that shatter, heavier blocks etc etc.
- Create foreground and background objects.
- Sound effects throughout,
- Create music track in GarageBand or on guitar or both, or buy one from Revostock.
- Setup Highscore saving function.
- Then test test test....
- Oh and decide on the final name of the game,
- Build a dedicated web page, some promo videos.
- And try and stay motivated and not start another game before it is perfect and finished.
(Oh and my boss has just brought me a big bag of french fries, and its 11:05 in the morning....brilliant...I'll be obese before this game is completed.)
Comments
The first two are...
Zombie Evolved: Attack!, And GraphWarsSquared.
More details at www.dereklarue.net in the iPhone app section!
Both are either waiting for review or in review atm, will give some promos out when there released!
Game 1: Blade & Bullitt : Double Cross (top down shooter)
Game 2: Life Support (working Title)
I might put a few levels of Life support online to get for feedback/beta testing done as I am not sure how interesting people will find it.
I'm currently making my musa monsson game better, I have some things done, but I still need so UI fixes to do, and more powerups also. I now have various enemies with their own shapes and sizes and attributes, so gameplaywise, it is looking good.
This isnt high score based at all, it is just a level based game that take you on an adventure and has some depth through enemy battles.
GS is great to quickly see if your idea is fun or not so i'm just working on a few ideas atm.
Darren.
(its for you to read and me to get ideas down somewhere)
It's been two weeks of tinkering with my game, working on it when and where I can.
WHAT IVE DONE SO FAR:
-I've now finalized graphic style, went for clean crisp graphics, with textures.
- Added high score function and screens have been created and are working, though I'm now thinking of changing how it is done and have a highscore saved for each level.
- Added level unlock screen and functionality. Works well now.
- Keep tweaking rules to make sure players can't cheat to complete the level.
- Have tidied the level screen so it is not too cluttered, only making a stop watch visible when needed etc etc.
- Added 2 new actors with different physics/rules applied to vary the gameplay.
- I've created a nice photoshop template for creating level introduction screens.
- Created an option menu, accessible during gameplay.
WHAT I STILL WANT TO ADD:
- ALL THE LEVELS, got ideas for lots using a mixture of current actors. Keep holding off on this until level 1 is absolutely solid.
- Still yet to do sound effects.
- Make a few more varied actors.
- Think I may need to add a comical character, to make the game more fun. Only seen on title screens not actually involved in the gameplay. It would allow my game logo to be more interesting which should help sales.
- More varied music depending on the moment in the game.
- More backgrounds, maybe change colours in game depending on moment in game, time left on timer.
- Add transitions from scene to scene.
............
Basically since playing 'Angry Birds' I keep looking at my creation thinking ' nope this could be better, smoother or funnier.
It took me longer than I expected and from the initial 5 game styles and 15 levels / gamestyle I decided to do only 1 game style and only 10 levels for now.
If the game will be somehow successfull, then I will update.
If I would want to do the planned features and levels, It would take me months to finish, but I don`t want to spend more time on it without knowing if it will be a success.
It already took me 3 months.
Not sure how many more weeks to spend making my game work well before seding to the app store.
Want it to be well received, but if it does not sell to many, then is it worth making it better before or not.....
My goal: 1000 sales a day by the end of March!
If you really want to know what is coming...there is a separate post with links to a few "sneek peeks".
http://gamesalad.com/forums/topic.php?id=4022&replies=1#post-23719
Our first game "Avoid-Em-Up" has been up for around a month
only sold around 50 or so....but not too fussed as it was used more as a learning experience for me.
Our second app "iLullaby" has been live on the store for 11 days, and has sold 87, averaging 7-8 per day, and staying fairly stable at that.
Our next app "Put a DONK on it" (might not mean much to you non-UK lot) is currently waiting for review, but it was probably the quickest to make of the 3 so far, as things start to get a little easier the more I use GS...plus it's probably not quite as complex as the other 2.
Real life has started to get in the way of development in the past 2 weeks or so, but we have a couple of things on the go, and we are also checking out Torque2Di, to see what what can give us that's different to GS (admittedly, the $750 price tag is kind of off-putting tho).
don't want to give too much away right now obviously, as everything is in a very very early state.
I think the next thing to realistically thinking about is how to market what we already have. Seems like a pretty daunting task to be honest.
http://www.flamingmitten.co.uk
Heck, 100 a day would be nice
http://gamesalad.com/forums/topic.php?id=4022&replies=1#post-23719
looking to introduce at $1.99
I spent a good two weeks just thinking about my second before I even touched a pencil or the computer. And as such, it is coming together rather quickly. Now I can't help thinking about the third, and it is distracting me.
My first game is about a month away just ironing out the game balancing issues,
can't wait!
I've been experimenting with GS so far. I'm learning the basics. I've done 2-3 simple applications, no games.
I thought I was ready for the next level. Today I tried to make a game "template" (Just one-colored boxes instead of images, one colored background, few actors etc.) but I failed miserably. I was not ready, no, not at all...
But I have 9-10 kick-ass ideas. Most of them original ideas, few of them originated from other games
*The secret game I love to itsy bitsy pieces - about 40% done - still get annoying bugs as a result of the last update, and have levels to make. I have a basic template though that I can use for other games of this ilk.
*Insomniac - about 20% done - basic concept working.
*Xmas 2097 - 95% update almost done - added tshirtbooth's page turn anim, and fixed a typo. Need to split the whole thing in two so it loads faster
*PD - provisional name - about 20% done.
About 6 other games in concept stages....
I think what I lack is focus. So many games on at the same time mean it gets hard to sit down and finish one!
QS
Dr. Sam Beckett never returned home...
Twitter: https://twitter.com/Quantum_Sheep
Web: https://quantumsheep.itch.io
many things have popped into my head!
Someone prove me wrong!
So here's what I've been up to, as well as tending to a non sleeping non feeding baby who is now better (hoorah!) , a wife suffering with a cold, and the dreaded in laws, oh and going to work for 10 hours a day...
...........
Sound on/off, music on/off buttons created and code implemented throughout,
Push buttons throughout (so the image scales up when pressed, and back when released, with sound)
Animated slide on slide off, transitions created for menus,
Sound effects for everything (lots of the same clicking sound.. but it works...)
Varied music and sounds depending on level outcome,
New art work through out, the clean vectors were getting to me so its now a mixed media affair with clean vectors with messier textures.
New main game Title graphic, created in Cinema 4d, then tweaked in Photoshop,
Highscore added to each level,
Fixed all the little things I was putting off, like a block that could still be rotated with multi touch once the level had been failed.
Added proper instructions screen, that animates on and off nicely.
Checked that it stays around 60 fps on a 3gs, fingers crossed it will work on a 3g, but if not then it will be 3gs only, or I will make a slimmed down version.
..........
Still need to:..........
Although it will be fun and quick due to the time spent on level 1, I need to put together each separate level with varying actors and intro slate,
Create Highscore page, to easily view all highscores on one page, maybe a total as well.
Add an unlock special level feature, ie. getting a certain highscore total and unlock a secret mode.
Make a website, with teaser shots, etc etc.
Make a lite version, ready to release around 2 weeks after main release. how many levels to give away?
Need to make a nicer looking 'retry' button as it looks poor in comparison to the rest of the game.
Possibly going to add one more actor, to vary the harder levels, maybe...maybe not.
Oh and still lots of testing to do, friends and family have played and like it so far, one mate even played it solidly for 15 minutes even though there is only one level that lasts about 30 seconds....I'm sure its not that hard to play....I now struggle to fail I've played it so much.
and thats me ....up todate...
how's everyone else doing?
keep checking GS forum hoping to see a new update, not that I particularly need anything, just be cool to have some new features to play with, even if its just folders to tidy actors up into.
Think thats me done for the night....
need to double check /double think about it all before churning out the next 20 levels, based on level 1's setup