> TOTB4 inspired : End of the Earth game

gyroscope

Hi, I suddenly thought (yesterday) that'd I'd have a bash at Stormy's excellent contest, although as I'm one of the judges (if that's alright to mention, Jon, if not I'll delete that bit!) I can't actually enter the contest.

But an interesting exercise all the same; working on the puzzle game from yesterday afternoon and some of today, it's all flying together, really. I've surprised myself; I must be getting quicker with GSC! I reckon it could all be finished in a week and a half's time if not sooner.

For those of you who know I'm working on my Alive Antique Wallpaper game, the amount of time given to this one shouldn't harm my proposed release date of March. The only thing that's changed there is that AAW will now be my second app to be published on the app store.

This game following the TOTB4 rules/theme is called End of the Earth and as I mentioned, it's a puzzle game, with (only) 8 levels. This small amount because I suddenly had the idea of linking tracks from my first album (This Solid Land) with the levels. So it'll be free on the iTunes store but also a small advert for This Solid Land which is on the iTunes store already, as well as advertising my name "DavidGriffinApps" which might help out with a few sales when I publish Alive Antique Wallpaper.

Although I've got as far as the first level, I'll only show the menu card and credits page at this stage. When the first level is more refined, I'll show you that for your interest.

I'll be putting the first vid with the menu and credits within 15 minutes, so do check back then if you're interested. Any comments welcome as usual.

And the best of luck to each and every one of you entering the Think Outside of the Box 4 competition! :-)

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http://davidgriffinapps.co.uk/

IsabelleK

Good luck David

StormyStudio

good luck mate... look forward to seeing your stuff. (you preview videos always look so promising)....

and of course you can mention your a judge.... that way the annoyed crowds will know who to come after if they don't win... :-)

gyroscope

Thanks for the luck, Marcin & Jon; of course you mean for getting it ready in a week's time, I realise, as I can't enter the competition as you know!

I had trouble logging in earlier, so got back into the game development; hence I haven't recorded the 2 cards yet... so I'll do that now. Ready in ten, I reckon. :-)

gyroscope

Here's the first vid of my little game End of the Earth. Like before, the audio is delayed, but in this instance, as there's just a soundtrack, you won't notice.

As mentioned this is showing only the Menu card and the Credits page. Hope you like it!

Oh, by the way, if any of you have looked at my album This Solid Land on iTunes, there's an "Also by this artist" bit and it shows a guy in a tuxedo. That's not me! He's someone else with the same name. I wrote to Apple iTunes a month or so ago but they never replied or amended it; such is life...

Anyhow, here's the first progress vid:

Braydon_SFX

Video looks nice!
Don't know if I can give advice but here it goes:

Change the text "End of the Earth" It is really hard to read (Just my opinion).
Anyway, looks great!

gyroscope

Hi Braydon, thanks, pleased you like it! Thanks for your advice too. To be fair, the type does look more readable larger, i.e when it's the proper iPad size but still a little difficult to read; you're correct there. As I like the typefaces I've used, I'll work on them – perhaps give them an outline or shadow, maybe a texture, to make sure they're more readable. (The colours might need looking at too). Cheers. :-)

ozboybrian

I thought I was kicking butt till I saw this video! Looks really interesting, best graphics.
I want a Earth like that Mine looks like something a 2 year old did with crayons LOL.

@Stormystudio - What are the rules in relation to using sounds? do we have to make them to? or are ones we've bought in the past ok...

gyroscope

Hey Brian, don't put yourself down!! As far as I see, your graphics are well-done, a different style altogether + your game's a different genre (but thanks for the compliment!)

I'm guessing that, although you have to use your own graphics for the comp, you don't have to make all your own sounds...could be wrong....obviously Stormy will have to confirm that.

I'll be posting another vid sometime today for interest (I told you it was coming together quick... ;-)

ozboybrian

haha Thanks Gyro, appreciate it. Really keen to seeing more of your project

IsabelleK

Looks great David, nice vid

gyroscope

Thank you very much, Marcin. :-)

I'm just about to record the 2nd progress vid of End of the Earth, so should be here about ten to fifteen minutes time.

Edit: wife has just kicked me off the comp; make it half to three quarters of an hour... ;-)

Braydon_SFX

Waiting....

gyroscope

:-)

Got the comp back! OK, give me ten minutes...

gyroscope

Hi, here's the 2nd progress vid of my puzzle game called End of the Earth. There's still a few tweaks up to this point, and I'm not totally happy with the type effects for the title but it's almost there, I think.

Sound delayed again; I've read the google help page and followed it to the letter but still problems there; must be down to iShowU, I guess. One day I'll solve that...

Hope you like it:

IsabelleK

I love this moment, when this planet, or asteroid hits the Earth It's brilliant!

gyroscope

Thank you again, Marcin! Glad you like that effect. For info, I used Darren & Wayne's explosion generator and added a couple of other graphic elements to it. I might see what adding particles does as well; it might be just that bit too much, I'll wait and see. The explosion is seen 8 times throughout the puzzle game, so it has to be something the user doesn't get fed up with!

gyroscope

Evening all (early evening here in the UK) – I've bumped this thread in case anyone who hasn't seen it might be interested. Also to say I'll be putting up a third progress video in a couple to three hours time for you to check out if you like. :-)

Braydon_SFX

Waiting..

Looks great man! I love the thing crashing into the earth!

gyroscope

I can hear the drumming of fingers, Braydon! Sorry to disappoint, but I was over-optimistic about getting what I wanted done this evening.

It'll probably be finished in a couple of hours time - that's a probably - so I won't promise anyone this time around. enough to say the next vid might be late tonight (late as in UK time) or tomorrow morning now... I'm still whizzing through it though...

gyroscope

Good morning, afternoon or evening, depending...

"Time and GSC waits for no man" i'm sure I read somewhere once! So yesterday night turned into this morning into this afternoon... but finally got together the third (and last i'll be showing) progress video of my puzzle game End of the Earth.

Couple of things to say: the audio track on the video is delayed again by a second or so; to add to the puzzle page: option to change background colour to white or light blue as well as black, snap to grid for the puzzle pieces, option of showing a grid as well as a guide, next/prev puzzle buttons, etc. (And just had the idea of changing the small world button into the moon when a puzzle is finished).

So here's the third progress video of the puzzle game End of the Earth, ready for iTunes in two weeks max, I'm thinking...

Hope you like what you see and any comments, etc; welcome as usual, thanks!

Braydon_SFX

Hah, no problem m8.
Looks amazing! I like the puzzle!
Also, the information about which song is playing, nice touch!
Can't wait to see more!

Hope all is well,
Braydon

gyroscope

Thanks for the confidence boost, Braydon! :-)

The vid above is the last I'll be posting, so the next time you'll see the game will be when you hopefully download it for the iPad (fingers crossed you own an iPad) in two to three weeks time (assuming Apple accept it, of course!); it'll be free for a couple of months. I'll keep you and everyone else posted as to when it's in the App Store.

And all's well here, thank you for asking. :-)

LeonardDeveloper

@gyroscope
I'm thinking a space background for the space scene, it looks a bit bare
Hope this helps,
Jack

gyroscope

Hi Jack, I did put stars in at one time but then thought it looked too distracting so took them out again but thanks for your suggestion all the same. :-)

I might try again though, a few tiny white spots...

LeonardDeveloper

@gyroscope
Ya, I can see what you mean..... Maybe star particles?, I designed some space pixel game for a client, he didn't know what particles in GS were so I had to design little star particles myself.... They work great and aren't to distracting....
I'm using them in my TOTB game and if you want them you can give me an email, I'll give them over for free! ...... Just please don't share them, as I'm planning to put them up in the marketplace in a space art pack.....my email is thermoapps@gmail.com
Hope this helps,
Jack

gyroscope

That's good of you Jack but I think if I do put a few dotted stars in, they won't be via particles; they won't twinkle or move so a few tiny imageless white actors will do the trick. Thanks anyway!

I've decided I'll put up a 4th progress video – hopefully tonight/tomorrow – showing just the first puzzle but finished, so look out for it if you're interested to see. :-)

LeonardDeveloper

@Gyroscope GReat!! Really looking forward to the progress video! Heres a nice static image of a star thats not too distracting, i also had it kicking around from one of my games! :

gyroscope

Thanks again Jack; nice little image; I'll stick to a white dot though if I do put them back. I'm thankful for your willingness to help though. :-)

I'm just about to record the final progress video of End of the Earth, showing the first puzzle (now finished). Only prob I've got is when the repeat button is pressed, it calls up the Reset Behavior and so resets the music as well... I'l have to sort that with a boolean, I think, if I can.

Anyhow, vid should be up and running to see in ten to fifteen minutes...

gyroscope

So here's the final (definitely this time ;-) progress video of my first game to go to the app store called End of the Earth, showing just the first puzzle this time. It's relatively plain sailing for me to the end now....

To repeat, got to sort stopping the music starting again if the repeat button is pressed; and add the ruling for the + level. These levels will be the same as each of the 8 levels except there'll be a rotate button as the pieces will be randomly rotated by 90, 180, 270 or 360 degrees.

hope you like it; any comments appreciated, thanks.

mrglockling

This is looking very good