Status Report

Photics

My next game is awesome! I'm so excited about it. I'm really proud of what I'm creating. It's still a secret. I don't want my classified information getting out there before I have a chance to bring it to the App Store. Yet, when it's done, I think it might create a new standard for Game Salad games. I think it's professional level... about as good as I can get it with the current tool set.

Here are some examples of what's going on...

I'm giving my game so much polish that it might glow in the dark. I'm not kidding... I'm working really hard on this one. I spent 2-3 hours getting the background clouds just right... didn't like it... started over and spent another 2-3 hours getting it right. To explain why that's so significant, the clouds are only visible behind transparent glass and a small portion of the screen. I'm pushing GameSalad to the limit. I have 140+ attributes and it's looking like 70+ actors. Yet, the frame rates are solid. I'm putting a tremendous amount of work in optimization techniques.

So... with that stated... is GameSalad 0.8.6 fixed yet? I don't want to release my game and have it ruined because of some wacky glitch.

stanimation

Wow!

fuzzeemic

That's definitely how you talk something up. :-)
I'm excited to see the final result. I have high expectations now!!

design219

Ha, yeah, this app better rock big time!

Looking forward to it.

Riffel

Hi Photics, similar to my game, but unlike you I will soon publish my game webpage. I intend to start in July the stage of appreciation on the app store. Good luck with your game. I am waiting anxiously. Quality is the way.
Regards, Marcos Riffel.

quantumsheep

All my upcoming games are going to be !@#$%...

(I'm hoping you'll all be pleasantly surprised)

This isn't the way to do it, is it? Hmmmm...

QS

Edit: Here's a tiny tiny sneak peek of one of them:

scitunes

not as shitty as mine!

Quasitimp

MY POO WILL REAK WORST OF ALL!!

WHY? Cause I can.

JGary321

ALL YOUR BASE ARE BELONG TO US.

quantumsheep

Photics said:
My next game is awesome! I'm so excited about it. I'm really proud of what I'm creating. It's still a secret. I don't want my classified information getting out there before I have a chance to bring it to the App Store. Yet, when it's done, I think it might create a new standard for Game Salad games. I think it's professional level... about as good as I can get it with the current tool set.

Here are some examples of what's going on...

I'm giving my game so much polish that it might glow in the dark. I'm not kidding... I'm working really hard on this one. I spent 2-3 hours getting the background clouds just right... didn't like it... started over and spent another 2-3 hours getting it right. To explain why that's so significant, the clouds are only visible behind transparent glass and a small portion of the screen. I'm pushing GameSalad to the limit. I have 140+ attributes and it's looking like 70+ actors. Yet, the frame rates are solid. I'm putting a tremendous amount of work in optimization techniques.

But is it any fun???



QS

Photics

quantumsheep said:
But is it any fun???

I think so, yes... very easy game to understand and suitable for all ages. Heh... well... those that can hold an iPad. I'm planning to wrap the game up by this weekend. I'd like to add multilingual support, achievements, unlockables and gradually increase the difficulty so that it provides a satisfying challenge.

When you find yourself spending more and more time "testing" than developing, that's when you know you have a winner. I remember when I started getting the controls to work the way I wanted... click... click... click... oh yeah... it's good.

As for the clouds... I don't have an exact measurement of how much time I spent on it... but it seems like a lot. In retrospect, 2-3 hours each session might be a somewhat high estimate... but I did work on the clouds for hours. I worked on it last night... went to sleep... woke up this morning and got right back to it. Sometimes I like to think about game design issues while I fall asleep. I wanted it to be perfect.

While working on the clouds, I was also working on an in-game advertisement system, but that seemed to look unnatural and a bit of a distraction. I might revisit it before the game is finished. I probably won't put advertisements, but I might add another cool feature that is similar.

I've carefully studied what makes a game fun and compelling. I believe that I've hit the core areas. This is no exaggeration. During the last few days and even weeks, I've been thinking about the design. I had a game that I wanted to clone, but I couldn't figure out how to create that game with GameSalad. So instead, I'm creating something unique. And as I get closer to and closer to finish, I keep getting more ideas to make my idea better. But instead of shying away from feature creep, I'm putting it in the game.

Graphics, music, sound, story, presentation... like a mighty chain, all the links are being forged. I've learned from my previous GameSalad projects. Each one got a little better than the one before it. I think this one is a significant leap above the rest. I'd like to tell you why this one is more special than the others, but that is a secret as well.

quantumsheep

That's all well and good, but look at how cute my cloud is!

Seriously, I wish you all the best with it. I don't have an iPad unfortunately, but looking forward to what others that do have one will say!

QS

Photics

I like your cloud too! :-)

If I can make it fit, there will be an iPod Touch / iPhone version too. So far, I'm getting 40+ FPS on my iPod Touch, so it should be OK... and that's with graphics optimized for the iPad. Although... I haven't put in sound effects or music in the game yet, so that is a concern.

butterbean

Love your Cloud QS! Very cute!

quantumsheep

butterbean said:
Love your Cloud QS! Very cute!

I think you'll love the final game - but it's a way away yet!

QS

Photics

Bah... I'm still waiting for an update. My game is nearing the finish line.

Today, I worked on music, game difficulty and icon files.

The music is so sweet. It should be, because I licensed professional stuff. It really helped to create the mood. I even kept it as stereo sound. It's just too good to convert to mono. This morning I had my headphones on... nodding my head to the beat. If you could see the wicked smirk on my face, you could tell it sounded good without even hearing a single note. I'm planning to add full audio controls, mute, audio volume, sound volume.

The game seemed a bit easy, so I have to mix things up as the game progresses. I think I have a nice solution to this problem. While the game starts off easy, it should get pretty chaotic by level 5.

As for the icon file... wow... I worked really hard on this one. While not as cute as Quantum Sheep's avatar, I think my game's icon will stand out. People tend to judge a book by it's cover and the 512x512 icon is basically my game's cover. Again, I licensed professional artwork. I used that for the background and I used Photoshop for the remaining elements.

I was planning to send my game to Apple on Monday, but the issues with 0.8.6 have me concerned. I don't know if I should delay my game. I don't see any problems, but if a better version of GameSalad is only a few days away, maybe I should wait. I'm not sure.

Ignis

Photics said:
My next game is awesome! I'm so excited about it. I'm really proud of what I'm creating. It's still a secret. I don't want my classified information getting out there before I have a chance to bring it to the App Store.

Looking forward to this! On a related topic, I have been "polishing" my first game idea for weeks now (albeit learning GS from the ground up at the same time, so I don't think this is a major delay). In about a week I want to release a basic "demo" to the GS community to judge, but in a way, I also don't want to "spoil" some of the cool ideas I have for the game in the future... and yet, I would like some feedback and brainstorming on possible ideas and aspects I haven't thought of! Oh, the dilemma... how much to "preview", how much to "keep secret"...

By the way, you and I are apparently in the "Anal GS Chef Club". Replace "anal" with "perfectionist" if you wish... that's the term I prefer. I spent half the day making a slick transparent ice cube graphic in Photoshop, sort of rough and skewed along the edges. Then another 1-2 hours making it "melt" in the perfect smooth transition and timing within the game. Why? Well... I'm a perfectionist! And this actor will be used frequently, so it's worth the effort. I hope my game eventually lives up to my own high standards, if not other people's.

Photics

I think Gendai Games - and we as developers - should encourage Perfectionism. From what I've learned of game development, specifically in the MMORPG realm, that last 5% is what separates a good game from a great game. Here, with App Store games, you pretty much get one shot to introduce your game. Even though you can go back and update your game, I don't think the update will receive as much visibility as the first launch.

It's hard to work at this level too... because onlookers might not understand what you're doing. They might think that something is done, but you're still there... still testing different shades of colors, optimizing graphics without losing quality, testing... testing... testing. To the outside world, it looks like wasted time, but that's the difference. That's what makes a professional game.

I felt the difference this morning. Most of my App Store icons felt a little flat to me. Yet, I did something smart last night. Before I went to bed, I left Photoshop still running on my computer - with the logo still on the screen. When I woke up this morning, with my eyes rested, the icon was there waiting. It felt good. It may not be the best icon ever, but it did feel pro... as if I forgot that I made it.

So, should you preview your game? If you're unsure of your work and looking for ideas, it's good to get feedback. Yet, this is a developer's realm. Your ideas will likely find their way into other people's projects. That's the trade-off. That's why I'm keeping my game a secret. I think I'm using a rather unique approach in creating my game. Once people see what can be done, I think there will be others that will want to do it too.

AfterBurnett

I tried polishing my game but all I did was scuff the monitor... I was using super fine wet'n dry sandpaper, too!

Photics

Maybe next time try an orbital buffer?

AfterBurnett

I would but my girlfriend added some "attachments" to it... I don't wanna go near it now.

Photics

Status Report - Addendum

I'm making bombs.
MUWHAHAHAHAHA!

scitunes

Wow! Amazing how these threads evolve!

Jel

Hi Photics,

I don't want to pee on the parade and sound like a Debby Downer but I developed a game with much the same amount of effort as you put into yours, 150+ Actors 100+Attributes, polished, tested, retested and I was really proud and excited about my game but the sales just didn't reflect that excitement.

No one to blame ( except maybe a few "freetard" on the Lite version) it just didn't take off. I'm still very proud of it and that for me right now if enough.

I sincerely hope yours does better than mine did and I'm sure it will.

Photics

Well, disappointing sales is certainly a possibility. I look at it this way. So far, I'm moving in the right direction.

Photics: Fireball had better sales than Photics: Revisions - Course Correction
...and the Photics: Toolbox had better sales than Photics: Fireball.

I've been working on my website for well over a decade. I'm still not rich, but I keep working towards that goal. What I'm doing now is certainly more productive than wasting my time playing MMORPGs... which is what I'd probably be doing if not for mobile application development.

Creating these games has given me a better appreciation for life and the world around me. Back to the clouds... it was a religious experience for me. I don't want to get all preachy on people here, but it made me think about the creationism vs. evolution debate. Are we here randomly or does life have a purpose? I think that there is a higher purpose to life and that the world was not created randomly.

When I open Photoshop, a vast array of colors stands before me... yet, it was hard for me to create a beautiful sky... and I'm not even creating it from scratch. I only have to look up to see a live example. If it's so hard for me to mimic it... how can I believe that it just appeared spontaneously? No... the world seems designed to me.

Sometimes I wonder if God is the original game designer.

Anyway, there's something different about this game. I feel it. I believe it!

I'm designing this game to have mass appeal, but it already has one fan... me... I really enjoy playing this game. It's relaxing and fun. I'm looking forward to seeing it done, so I can fully appreciate the hard work that went into creating it.

...and maybe you will enjoy the game too! :-)

Photics

Status Report - 5/16/2010

While the game works, I just realized that I mislabeled the majority of my Attributes. Heh... so now I get to go back and update 30+ actors and ~100 attributes. Fun!

That's not exactly how I imagined I would be spending my Sunday morning.

firemaplegames

Unless you are changing the attribute types, you can simply rename the attributes and the changes will be applied globally.

Photics

I finished. It wasn't too bad. I just had to switch some stuff around. It was tempting to ignore it, since the players aren't going to see it. Yet, it bothered me having such a glaring mistake in my game. Heh... at what point does perfectionism become a sickness?

Rob2

when you start talking about it

Photics

MEDIC! ...MEDIC!

Actually... that pizza game posted recently looks like I'm not the only perfectionist around here. The artwork was amazing!

Photics

Wow... I know I was getting 40+ FPS before, but now it dropped down to about 23. I thought it was because I added music and some other stuff, but when I went back to older versions... even pulling audio out completely from the game... the frame rate still suffered.

I'm wondering if a game file could get corrupted or unoptimized.

Images: 10.4 MB
Sounds: 70KB (Only one sound effect in the game so far)
Game Engine: 18.1 MB
Other: 3.6
Total: 32.2

For some unknown reason, I seem to have lost about half of my frame rate.