gyroscopeI am here.Member, Sous Chef, PROPosts: 6,598
edited September 2014
Take two (or three or four....) I've lost count now how many times this project has been put on hold... sorry to those who are/were eager to try out the game....
Anyhow, after 3 months away from it (I've been working on one of my writing projects) I'm back on it again.
This time tho' I'm not going to promise any finishing date - not fair on you or me!.... just to say I'm giving it my full attention again till it's finished and in the store.
There's quite complex programming in it and it took me a good few hours yesterday to work out what I was doing/how I did it! But as I say, it's off and sailing again... not going to be "plain sailing" but onwards we go....
I'll keep everyone who's interested posted as to the progress as before.
gyroscopeI am here.Member, Sous Chef, PROPosts: 6,598
edited September 2014
Progress update: a small "breakthrough" of sorts: my keyword this morning seems to be "simplify"...
I'm simplifying the graphics for the menu and level select screens at the moment, and I've already simplified the play screens in two ways:
Firstly, it dawned on me that being a word puzzle game, adding a scoring system wouldn't really add that much in the way of player satisfaction, so I've deleted that (I hadn't finalised the scoring system anyway)
And second, I took away the band graphic top and bottom, so its looking much cleaner now. Here's a screen grab of one of the 4x4 puzzles to show you what I mean:
If I'm being honest - I think the top & bottom bars being there looked better. Just my opinion.
Still looks awesome though
gyroscopeI am here.Member, Sous Chef, PROPosts: 6,598
edited September 2014
@Braydon_SFX said:
I like the cleaner look. Nice job!
@FallingBoxStudios said:
If I'm being honest - I think the top & bottom bars being there looked better. Just my opinion.
Still looks awesome though
Cheers, Bray; and @FallingBoxStudios for your opinions (even if they are opposite!) as well as the compliment, appreciated.
Hmm, had a think, then I moved down the puzzle size info to the bottom... so think I'll keep it without the top & bottom bands now, but thanks again, @FallingBoxStudios, it made me think about better use of space.
Thinking on, I might go "half and half" and put just the top one back in now, see how that looks.
gyroscopeI am here.Member, Sous Chef, PROPosts: 6,598
edited November 2014
Hi, at long last I'm on the last leg of getting this together.... been away from it months at a time, mainly because of my other interest, writing. (3 months away last time as I've been writing a novella - Two Dogs At The One Dog Inn if you'd like to know the title... )
Here's the latest progress video for your interest (with one of the bands put back (the one at the top), @fallingboxstudios will be pleased to see...); and I've deleted the scoring system as I realised it really wasn't needed.
Still have to finish the "Other apps" screen, and add the IAP stuff, as well as a few tweeks and ruffles... should be ready for submission to the store in a week.
Here's the 5th progress vid. for your interest, hope you like it (P.S the vid. is better quality seen on YouTube):
gyroscopeI am here.Member, Sous Chef, PROPosts: 6,598
edited November 2014
Because I've left this project and gone back to it so many times, I've tended to forget my programming - I haven't left notes this time - and so when a button went wrong, my heart sunk, because in the buttons are a lot of programming in each one, the attributes "tailored to each specific button too.
So not only unwieldy, difficult to grasp again but slow to even move down the edit page....
But that's the way it was - I had to plunge in.... so after copying lumps and re-entering the appropriate attributes, trying again (and this is having to run through the puzzles from 1 to 18 every time for them to place correctly (a particular button on puzzle 18 giving me the problem); doing this about 4 or 5 times, still I couldn't iron out the glitch of this particular button reacting incorrectly.
Must have spent a good 14 hours over 3 days trying and trying....
Then as I switched off the computer for the night, yesterday evening, it suddenly struck me: on the scene, the buttons are numbered 1 to 25 but - of course - when running live, the buttons swap positions depending on which puzzle it is.
D'oh. I've wasted 14 hours+ on the wrong button's rules....
So just starting again with a deep breath - will run through to the incorrect puzzle and find out which button place it moves to on that puzzle level - then hopefully will find the problem quickly then (I know it's going to be just one integer correction) and then it's plain sailing to get it ready for the App Store.
There you go: a progress report explaining how there wasn't any progress.
Braydon_SFXMember, Sous Chef, PRO, Bowlboy SidekickPosts: 9,271
@gyroscope said:
Because I've left this project and gone back to it so many times, I've tended to forget my programming - I haven't left notes this time - and so when a button went wrong, my heart sunk, because in the buttons are a lot of programming in each one, the attributes "tailored to each specific button too.
So not only unwieldy, difficult to grasp again but slow to even move down the edit page....
But that's the way it was - I had to plunge in.... so after copying lumps and re-entering the appropriate attributes, trying again (and this is having to run through the puzzles from 1 to 18 every time for them to place correctly (a particular button on puzzle 18 giving me the problem); doing this about 4 or 5 times, still I couldn't iron out the glitch of this particular button reacting incorrectly.
Must have spent a good 14 hours over 3 days trying and trying....
Then as I switched off the computer for the night, yesterday evening, it suddenly struck me: on the scene, the buttons are numbered 1 to 25 but - of course - when running live, the buttons swap positions depending on which puzzle it is.
D'oh. I've wasted 14 hours+ on the wrong button's rules....
So just starting again with a deep breath - will run through to the incorrect puzzle and find out which button place it moves to on that puzzle level - then hopefully will find the problem quickly then (I know it's going to be just one integer correction) and then it's plain sailing to get it ready for the App Store.
There you go: a progress report explaining how there wasn't any progress.
Wow, it's like my nightmares in another persons life. :P
gyroscopeI am here.Member, Sous Chef, PROPosts: 6,598
edited December 2014
Update: still the nightmare : even after finding the correct button's rules that was causing problems, I realised the only way to weed out the wrong integer was to copy all from another button and replace with the particular button's attributes (after trying the easy route of going though every behaviour to see if I could spot the mistake).
Just one rule alone in that actor (there are 4) involves changing a particular attribute over 240 times... (same for 24 other buttons which don't have to be changed).
Still working through it - still thoroughly *p**sed off that after all the work it's going wrong on Level 17...
I've put it aside again. I WILL finish it (i.e correct it) at some stage, otherwise there's months of thought and effort down the drain.
I think I should steer clear of puzzles in future (as well as complicated utility apps like the conversion app I made)... sometimes tracking a problem is like trying to find the proverbial needle in a haystack...
Anyhow, this last week, I've thrown together an entertainment app, which is really easy-peasy to program - should be ready in another week's time, then upload to Apple. That'll give me back some faith in making apps, I'm thinking...
It's called.... ah, not going to say, but I will say, I've "jumped on a bandwagon", to do with a "cult" pastime in ... somewhere in the world.... worth a shot... I'll post a vid. of play when I've registered the name with Apple Connect (which will be soon).
tatiangMember, Sous Chef, PRO, Senior Sous-ChefPosts: 11,949
edited December 2014
It's called.... ah, not going to say, but I will say, I've "jumped on a bandwagon", to do with a "cult" pastime in ... somewhere in the world.... worth a shot... I'll post a vid. of play when I've registered the name with Apple Connect (which will be soon).
You can say "Flappy." We won't think any less of you.
Just one rule alone in that actor (there are 4) involves changing a particular attribute over 240 times... (same for 24 other buttons which don't have to be changed).
sometimes tracking a problem is like trying to find the proverbial needle in a haystack...
Ugh. I know the feeling. Do you want any help with simplifying that system? It may be that it's just easier in some respects to stick with what you have but if you want to try the "two brains are better than one" approach, we can brainstorm a bit...
gyroscopeI am here.Member, Sous Chef, PROPosts: 6,598
edited December 2014
@tatiang said:
You can say "Flappy." We won't think any less of you.
Ha! (No worries, it's nothing like that!)
Ugh. I know the feeling. Do you want any help with simplifying that system? It may be that it's just easier in some respects to stick with what you have but if you want to try the "two brains are better than one" approach, we can brainstorm a bit...
That is really good of you, Tatian, thank you very much.
It's a fairly complex system with a fair bit of programming .... so you're welcome to take a look but I'd understand completely if you decided against it after an hour.. I didn't leave any notes, for one thing...
But if you did simplify and get track down that wrong integer I'd be mightily impressed and owe you big time...
Give me this evening to finish "repairing" the rogue button programming and if the prob. still persists, I'll email you a copy of the game file (actually, either way, if you'd like to take a look re: simplifying)
I've change computer so don't think I have your email address anymore, Tatian so please drop me a line at xxxx xxxxxxx xxxxx xx, thank you again.
gyroscopeI am here.Member, Sous Chef, PROPosts: 6,598
edited December 2015
Thank you to @Tatiang who helped me out in such a big way: an equation to replace a ton of rules in each button. Excellent! (I always thought there must be a simpler way but couldn't work it out).
This will probably solve the problem button now so the end is in sight again for SORT 'EM!
I'll keep you all posted - and thanks again, Tatian!
gyroscopeI am here.Member, Sous Chef, PROPosts: 6,598
edited December 2015
Pleased to say that now Ambient Writer is finished, I'm carrying on with Sort 'Em!
Simplifying programming at the moment (after help from @tatiang as above). Then I have to make up another 55 of the word groups/puzzles as I've only done up to 17... straightforward enough tho'... then sort out IAP and Restore buttons... then a few minor things.
gyroscopeI am here.Member, Sous Chef, PROPosts: 6,598
edited December 2015
You know when you've been wanting to bang your head against the wall/throw the computer through the windiw/tear your hair out after trying to solve a relatively simple problem over two days?
That.
The problem was simple: all the puzzles (finally) worked a treat throughout but if the user went back to the level menu and played and earlier level already played, it went wrong in several aspects.
I was fit to throw in the towel today until approx. an hour ago, I worked it out. A boolean to "set free" all the initial value attributes).
So the computer stays on the desk/no hair to be pulled out (not that I have much anyway)/my head is safe from a wall-pounding.
So that's the latest update. I plough on. (Five sixths of the way through it now).
gyroscopeI am here.Member, Sous Chef, PROPosts: 6,598
edited December 2015
@NipaDidIt Yes, happens to us all, I'm certain, at some time or other!
Latest update - I've finished Sort 'Em including IAP. Can't quite believe it really, considering the times I was going to throw in the towel.
Although when I say finished, that's everything bar 55 of the puzzles which I need to write and type into the table. Should keep me busy for a week or so but no pressure programming-wise (as there's no more to do).
Comments
I almost forgot about it too! Cheers, Bray - I'm getting cracking on it again starting tomorrow.
""You are in a maze of twisty passages, all alike." - Zork temp domain http://spidergriffin.wix.com/alphaghostapps
Take two (or three or four....)
I've lost count now how many times this project has been put on hold... sorry to those who are/were eager to try out the game....
Anyhow, after 3 months away from it (I've been working on one of my writing projects) I'm back on it again.
This time tho' I'm not going to promise any finishing date - not fair on you or me!.... just to say I'm giving it my full attention again till it's finished and in the store.
There's quite complex programming in it and it took me a good few hours yesterday to work out what I was doing/how I did it! But as I say, it's off and sailing again... not going to be "plain sailing" but onwards we go....
I'll keep everyone who's interested posted as to the progress as before.
""You are in a maze of twisty passages, all alike." - Zork temp domain http://spidergriffin.wix.com/alphaghostapps
Progress update: a small "breakthrough" of sorts: my keyword this morning seems to be "simplify"...
I'm simplifying the graphics for the menu and level select screens at the moment, and I've already simplified the play screens in two ways:
Firstly, it dawned on me that being a word puzzle game, adding a scoring system wouldn't really add that much in the way of player satisfaction, so I've deleted that (I hadn't finalised the scoring system anyway)
And second, I took away the band graphic top and bottom, so its looking much cleaner now. Here's a screen grab of one of the 4x4 puzzles to show you what I mean:
Hope some of you found that interesting info...
""You are in a maze of twisty passages, all alike." - Zork temp domain http://spidergriffin.wix.com/alphaghostapps
I like the cleaner look. Nice job!
My GameSalad Academy Courses! ◦ Check out my quality templates! ◦ Add me on Skype: braydon_sfx
If I'm being honest - I think the top & bottom bars being there looked better. Just my opinion.
Still looks awesome though
Cheers, Bray; and @FallingBoxStudios for your opinions (even if they are opposite!) as well as the compliment, appreciated.
Hmm, had a think, then I moved down the puzzle size info to the bottom... so think I'll keep it without the top & bottom bands now, but thanks again, @FallingBoxStudios, it made me think about better use of space.
Thinking on, I might go "half and half" and put just the top one back in now, see how that looks.
""You are in a maze of twisty passages, all alike." - Zork temp domain http://spidergriffin.wix.com/alphaghostapps
Hi, at long last I'm on the last leg of getting this together.... been away from it months at a time, mainly because of my other interest, writing. (3 months away last time as I've been writing a novella - Two Dogs At The One Dog Inn if you'd like to know the title...
)
Here's the latest progress video for your interest (with one of the bands put back (the one at the top), @fallingboxstudios will be pleased to see...); and I've deleted the scoring system as I realised it really wasn't needed.
Still have to finish the "Other apps" screen, and add the IAP stuff, as well as a few tweeks and ruffles... should be ready for submission to the store in a week.
Here's the 5th progress vid. for your interest, hope you like it (P.S the vid. is better quality seen on YouTube):
""You are in a maze of twisty passages, all alike." - Zork temp domain http://spidergriffin.wix.com/alphaghostapps
Some very lovely effects there! Nicely done.
Nice going, @gyroscope ! I almost forgot about this project! Glad to see it back in production!
My GameSalad Academy Courses! ◦ Check out my quality templates! ◦ Add me on Skype: braydon_sfx
@gamestudent @Braydon_SFX Thanks, guys.
""You are in a maze of twisty passages, all alike." - Zork temp domain http://spidergriffin.wix.com/alphaghostapps
** Bump** if anyone else would like to see the latest progress vid. of SORT 'EM iPad game.
""You are in a maze of twisty passages, all alike." - Zork temp domain http://spidergriffin.wix.com/alphaghostapps
Looking nice, hurry up we want to play it !
Thank you; & I'll get my skates on, @Socks!
""You are in a maze of twisty passages, all alike." - Zork temp domain http://spidergriffin.wix.com/alphaghostapps
Because I've left this project and gone back to it so many times, I've tended to forget my programming - I haven't left notes this time - and so when a button went wrong, my heart sunk, because in the buttons are a lot of programming in each one, the attributes "tailored to each specific button too.
So not only unwieldy, difficult to grasp again but slow to even move down the edit page....
But that's the way it was - I had to plunge in.... so after copying lumps and re-entering the appropriate attributes, trying again (and this is having to run through the puzzles from 1 to 18 every time for them to place correctly (a particular button on puzzle 18 giving me the problem); doing this about 4 or 5 times, still I couldn't iron out the glitch of this particular button reacting incorrectly.
Must have spent a good 14 hours over 3 days trying and trying....
Then as I switched off the computer for the night, yesterday evening, it suddenly struck me: on the scene, the buttons are numbered 1 to 25 but - of course - when running live, the buttons swap positions depending on which puzzle it is.
D'oh. I've wasted 14 hours+ on the wrong button's rules....
So just starting again with a deep breath - will run through to the incorrect puzzle and find out which button place it moves to on that puzzle level - then hopefully will find the problem quickly then (I know it's going to be just one integer correction) and then it's plain sailing to get it ready for the App Store.
There you go: a progress report explaining how there wasn't any progress.
""You are in a maze of twisty passages, all alike." - Zork temp domain http://spidergriffin.wix.com/alphaghostapps
Wow, it's like my nightmares in another persons life. :P
My GameSalad Academy Courses! ◦ Check out my quality templates! ◦ Add me on Skype: braydon_sfx
@Braydon_SFX Ha! Nightmare On Sort 'Em Street......
""You are in a maze of twisty passages, all alike." - Zork temp domain http://spidergriffin.wix.com/alphaghostapps
Update: still the nightmare : even after finding the correct button's rules that was causing problems, I realised the only way to weed out the wrong integer was to copy all from another button and replace with the particular button's attributes (after trying the easy route of going though every behaviour to see if I could spot the mistake).
Just one rule alone in that actor (there are 4) involves changing a particular attribute over 240 times... (same for 24 other buttons which don't have to be changed).
Still working through it - still thoroughly *p**sed off that after all the work it's going wrong on Level 17...
I've put it aside again. I WILL finish it (i.e correct it) at some stage, otherwise there's months of thought and effort down the drain.
I think I should steer clear of puzzles in future (as well as complicated utility apps like the conversion app I made)... sometimes tracking a problem is like trying to find the proverbial needle in a haystack...
Anyhow, this last week, I've thrown together an entertainment app, which is really easy-peasy to program - should be ready in another week's time, then upload to Apple. That'll give me back some faith in making apps, I'm thinking...
It's called.... ah, not going to say, but I will say, I've "jumped on a bandwagon",
to do with a "cult" pastime in ... somewhere in the world.... worth a shot... I'll post a vid. of play when I've registered the name with Apple Connect (which will be soon).
Fun, fun, fun....
""You are in a maze of twisty passages, all alike." - Zork temp domain http://spidergriffin.wix.com/alphaghostapps
You can say "Flappy." We won't think any less of you.
Ugh. I know the feeling. Do you want any help with simplifying that system? It may be that it's just easier in some respects to stick with what you have but if you want to try the "two brains are better than one" approach, we can brainstorm a bit...
New to GameSalad? (FAQs) | Tutorials | Templates | Greenleaf Games | Educator & Certified GameSalad User
Ha! (No worries, it's nothing like that!)
That is really good of you, Tatian, thank you very much.
It's a fairly complex system with a fair bit of programming .... so you're welcome to take a look but I'd understand completely if you decided against it after an hour.. I didn't leave any notes, for one thing...
But if you did simplify and get track down that wrong integer I'd be mightily impressed and owe you big time...
Give me this evening to finish "repairing" the rogue button programming and if the prob. still persists, I'll email you a copy of the game file (actually, either way, if you'd like to take a look re: simplifying)
I've change computer so don't think I have your email address anymore, Tatian so please drop me a line at xxxx xxxxxxx xxxxx xx, thank you again.
""You are in a maze of twisty passages, all alike." - Zork temp domain http://spidergriffin.wix.com/alphaghostapps
Will do!
New to GameSalad? (FAQs) | Tutorials | Templates | Greenleaf Games | Educator & Certified GameSalad User
Excellent, thanks again! (No rush - it won't be ready until tomorrow morning)
""You are in a maze of twisty passages, all alike." - Zork temp domain http://spidergriffin.wix.com/alphaghostapps
Thank you to @Tatiang who helped me out in such a big way: an equation to replace a ton of rules in each button. Excellent! (I always thought there must be a simpler way but couldn't work it out).
This will probably solve the problem button now so the end is in sight again for SORT 'EM!
I'll keep you all posted - and thanks again, Tatian!
""You are in a maze of twisty passages, all alike." - Zork temp domain http://spidergriffin.wix.com/alphaghostapps
You're welcome!
New to GameSalad? (FAQs) | Tutorials | Templates | Greenleaf Games | Educator & Certified GameSalad User
Pleased to say that now Ambient Writer is finished, I'm carrying on with Sort 'Em!
Simplifying programming at the moment (after help from @tatiang as above). Then I have to make up another 55 of the word groups/puzzles as I've only done up to 17... straightforward enough tho'... then sort out IAP and Restore buttons... then a few minor things.
On we go...
""You are in a maze of twisty passages, all alike." - Zork temp domain http://spidergriffin.wix.com/alphaghostapps
Yes! Glad to see this going again!
My GameSalad Academy Courses! ◦ Check out my quality templates! ◦ Add me on Skype: braydon_sfx
Good to hear and best of luck!
New to GameSalad? (FAQs) | Tutorials | Templates | Greenleaf Games | Educator & Certified GameSalad User
@Barydon_SFX @tatiang
Thanks, guys.
""You are in a maze of twisty passages, all alike." - Zork temp domain http://spidergriffin.wix.com/alphaghostapps
You know when you've been wanting to bang your head against the wall/throw the computer through the windiw/tear your hair out after trying to solve a relatively simple problem over two days?
That.
The problem was simple: all the puzzles (finally) worked a treat throughout but if the user went back to the level menu and played and earlier level already played, it went wrong in several aspects.
I was fit to throw in the towel today until approx. an hour ago, I worked it out. A boolean to "set free" all the initial value attributes).
So the computer stays on the desk/no hair to be pulled out (not that I have much anyway)/my head is safe from a wall-pounding.
So that's the latest update. I plough on. (Five sixths of the way through it now).
""You are in a maze of twisty passages, all alike." - Zork temp domain http://spidergriffin.wix.com/alphaghostapps
I know the feeling
Mental Donkey Games
Website - Facebook - Twitter
@NipaDidIt Yes, happens to us all, I'm certain, at some time or other!
Latest update - I've finished Sort 'Em including IAP. Can't quite believe it really, considering the times I was going to throw in the towel.
Although when I say finished, that's everything bar 55 of the puzzles which I need to write and type into the table. Should keep me busy for a week or so but no pressure programming-wise (as there's no more to do).
""You are in a maze of twisty passages, all alike." - Zork temp domain http://spidergriffin.wix.com/alphaghostapps