My Game-a-Day Marathon (January)

kongPLUS

Hey guys and girls!

Let me begin by singing the praises of Gamesalad and the developer community here. This is all awesome, and I have had a lot of fun playing with the engine! It's been great reading the forums and getting to grips with the program.

I intend to spend the entirety of January in Gamesalad! The plan is to make a new game every single day for the 31 days of January. The process will be streamed live via Twitch.tv/Justin.tv. I really want to do this to show how easy it is to produce games in this program, and show people that they too can try and make a career in game design.

Merry Christmas and see you on my stream in the New Year!

Paul,

Team Hyperbeam.

carlblanchet

Cool challenge! Can't wait to see the games you make!

kongPLUS

Here's some useful links if people are still interested in the project -

facebook.com/teamhyperbeamuk
twitter: @teamhyperbeam
teamhyperbeam.tumblr.com


Today's game (01/01/13): BARRAGE
Like pong, but you can add more balls at your own choosing. Intense fun to be had! http://arcade.gamesalad.com/g/108819

kongPLUS

Game two - Multi

http://gamesalad.com/game/108856

kongPLUS

Today's game is the best yet! Please check it out guys!

Thanks!

http://arcade.gamesalad.com/game/108888

tatiang

Today's game is impressive for one day. For game two, the collision rectangles are a bit unforgiving (fire hits blank space and you lose) and is the #2 frog supposed to move only a short bit each time you press/hold the key?

Nice work, keep 'em coming.

kongPLUS

Thanks Tatiang! Yeah number two could do with tightening the hit boxes really. Number two moves like that to simulate that he hops instead of running. If I release that game on iOS, I'll make sure the animation implies that. Thanks again for playing!

tatiang

@kongPLUS I made an overhead golf demo for someone a while back. You could use the same method of interpolating the size as the frog "hops."

kongPLUS

Thanks Tatiang, ill check it out!

kongPLUS

Here's today's game, 'Hack Job'
http://arcade.gamesalad.com/game/108907

kongPLUS

http://arcade.gamesalad.com/game/108928

Day 5 - Progress.
A non-game experiment.

kongPLUS

Day 6's game is finished but the Gamesalad Arcade is having a hard time playing it. I can't find a reason for it so that's gonna have to be pending. I'm trying to figure the problem at the moment but I got nothing

kongPLUS

Day Seven: Frontline - A multiplayer only minimalist RTS

(PLAY FOR FREE HERE) http://arcade.gamesalad.com/game/109008

RubiWorks

I made a game in 48 hours. But in 1 month? Boring :S
http://livestream.4ktech.net/channel/game-for-iphone-in-48-hours-d
But much encouragement

kongPLUS

Thanks Rubi, a game a day has been brutal I must admit. It's basically an extreme form of prototyping though, waiting until I hit something I want to release. I have considered stopping early if I design something that I think deserves better treatment.

tatiang

Day Seven: Frontline - A multiplayer only minimalist RTS

(PLAY FOR FREE HERE) http://arcade.gamesalad.com/game/109008

Shouldn't the score only increase when the other player is "retreating?" Currently, you can score points by advancing when the other player is idle. Not sure if that's how you intended it.

kongPLUS

I intended it that way, so you have to be quick off the draw when the game starts.

kongPLUS

Though actually, I might change it... I have some other ideas on how to make it more crunchy, I'll try it out after my 31 days.

tatiang

It might be interesting to have a multi-touch version of that game where your bar only grows in the location you have a finger held down. So you get sort of a mountain effect with peaks and valleys. If your opponent is holding down a finger in one location, you'd have to block that but try with another finger to create a peak in a different location.

Each side would look like a sideways bar graph, if that makes sense.

kongPLUS

Yeah that's a cool idea! I was thinking about this game a lot while I was making it because it's a simple game with a lot of depth. I think it works on a touch device pretty well too. Having multiple front lines would make the game pretty intense and fun! I'd have to code in a single player mode though for it to be really profitable I think.

tatiang

It's a shame we can't have true multiplayer support (though I can only imagine how difficult that is to implement). I've had some great ideas for two-player games that I've neglected to develop because I didn't think there'd be a market for them... and a one-player version wouldn't have been enjoyable enough.

kongPLUS

Day Eight: 'Colour' (WARNING: Flashing colours)
http://arcade.gamesalad.com/game/109019

kongPLUS

Yeah netcode is a whole other ball game for coding. Maybe the engine will get there one day.

kongPLUS

Day 9 - 'Catch' http://arcade.gamesalad.com/game/109055

kongPLUS

Hey, everyone. I hope you are all well.
Just an update on where we currently are at THB.
As some of you may have noticed, the Team have not released any games for about one week. Unfortunately, the project is becoming a financial drain. The games that are being made are not being sold, and no profit is being made from it. It’s unfortunate, but making games in this manner, at this speed, is just not going to be sustainable. I (lead developer Paul Oliver) have been forced to look for work in order to fund the project, which is taking a considerable amount of time, to the point to which there is no time for the project.
We are still committed to game design, and the single day game-jams can be pretty awesome, especially to see what can be done in one day. I will continue with the format of 31 games in 31 days, but these days can’t be consecutive. It will always have to be in a weekend or a day off. I will maintain a pace of at least two a week, which is realistically the most amount of days I can make it in.
It’s likely that I personally will not be able to fund these projects. The past week has been spent going to interviews around London, and applying for many positions, but really nothing has surfaced. So, I intend to shift focus now to actually releasing fully featured games, based off the prototypes from the game-jam, which always the long term strategy here. Colour is the first game that I am going to be improving for iOS release, which I am now working to improve.
Hyperbeam’s second designer, my younger brother, remains untouched by these changes. He has been working on a pretty large scale project for about two months now, and the progress at his end has been ridiculous. The game’s prototype was actually leaked, but his game is a Fire Emblem style strategy game, set in a universe of battling gods. It’s a universe that he has been working on for a while, in particular creating a tabletop RPG for it. The game is full of placeholder art right now, and one of the biggest projects for that game is redesigning the UI and art. It’s coming along greatly, and more information about a release schedule will be to follow. He works on the project close to 50 hours a week alongside his studies, so it’s really full steam ahead.
Thanks for reading and thanks for supporting the Team. I hope you all have enjoyed the games we made so far, and please stick around for the games we will release soon.
Stay Hyper.

tatiang

I'll stay hyper. Wait, no you stay hyper. Sounds like you guys need it more than me.

Don't worry about us... I think it's great you embarked on this insanely difficult adventure.

Maybe just adjust your timeline: "52 great games in 52 weeks!" Or how about "12 great games in 12 months"?

Anyway, best of luck with your developing and be sure to keep us in the loop.