8 Bit Space (now available on iPad)

Glass Frog

Hi Everyone,

Just thought id share the new game I'm working on, its called 8-Bit space (might change the name).
I usually make games aimed at children but fancied a change of direction with this new one.

I'm a big fan of 8-bit home computers like the ZX Spectrum and Comomador 64 so I decided to make a game inspired by some of my favourite games from my childhood.

gameplay-wise It's a level-based platformer with an enthesis on exploration.
To give it the right feel I decided to use the ZX spectrums colour palette and use 8x8 pixels.

To create the levels I used a program called Tiled. I created 1024 x 768 "Rooms" once finished I saved them as A PNG file and moved them over to Gimp so I could double the image size to 2048 x 1536 and then imported them into Gamesalad.
Once in I pieced the rooms together to make each level and placed in the walls and platforms, this took an insanely long time, as as you know Gamesalad doesn't have any sort of snap to grid option haha.

At the moment I'm thinking of releasing the game on iPad only, due to the scaling issue that would be caused porting it to any other screen resolution.

I did develop a platform game like this before and it received terrible download numbers so I'm not getting my hopes up for this one lol.

I will try and get a video out next week of its progress.

(The white box in the Top Lefthand corner of the pics is just there for debug purposes)

tatiang

It reminds me a bit of Metroid or Joust.

bob loblaw

scaling issue? should be able to build for ipad, and have universal settings to auto adjust for any device width in stretch without distorting anything. when i get home i’ll pop something up that might help you.

tatiang

In the future, you might consider setting up snap-to-grid rules in your actors. This is a quick demo (attached) so it can undoubtedly be improved but the general idea is that you roughly place your actors where they need to be and then the rules move them to the correct positions.

You'll notice that the train car at the top of the screen gets snapped to a grid square above where you might expect it to be. So in this case, the threshold for correct placement is somewhat low.

Glass Frog

@tatiang The Metroid series is one of my favourites so it defiantly had an influence
Yes putting snap to grid settings in my actors would have saved me quite a bit of time.
it came quite addictive in the end making sure everything was lined up pixel-perfect lol.
I will have to implement this next time as all the levels are completed now, cheers for the demo though.

@bob loblaw due to the levels being set in 'rooms' I don't want anything showing outside the rooms so the only way to scale the game would be to use "overview" but due to the iPad screen having a 4:3 aspect ratio and most other devices having much wider screens, it leaves the game with large black bars either side making the touch controllers uncomfortable to use.

Now the black bars don't bother me as they fit in well with the retro feel of the game.
Its a shame there is no way of keeping the game at 4:3 and just stretching out the on-screen buttons to fill the whole screen using something like a GUI layer.

On a side note, has anyone released a game for the Fire TV as I am thinking of releasing this game on to the platform and wondered if it was worth it. Also, has anyone run into any troubles trying to port their game over to the platform?

bob loblaw

i see. the only other suggestion i could make with that then is try putting your own custom siding on a hud layer to cover the other rooms.

Glass Frog

@bob loblawThat's a good idea I might look into it if downloads go well with the iPad version, thanks for the advice Bob .

Braydon_SFX

This looks great!

Glass Frog

@Braydon_SFX Cheers

Just made this quick video of how the game is going. It's not the best quality and its a little choppy but you can make out the basic gameplay.

bob loblaw

looking good

Glass Frog

@bob loblaw Thanks Bob

Glass Frog

I have made a new gameplay video, better quality this time. I'm hoping to release it in January as long as I don't run into any major setbacks.

Two.E

Fantastic - Looks great. A lot of little extra details in there which give it some life! All the best for January!

Twayne2

I absolutely love it! How did you make the screen rumble when that wall part unlocked? I've always wondered about how I would go about something like that.

jamie_c

@Twayne2, you could do that with a subtle camera shake:

Twayne2

Thanks! I will watch this at some point!

Glass Frog

@Two.E @Twayne2 Thanks guys

Braydon_SFX

Great stuff! Thanks for keeping us updated; love the videos!

Glass Frog

Nearly ready just a few more bugs to iron out.

Glass Frog

Hi Everyone, 8 Bit Space is now available on the app store:

https://apps.apple.com/us/app/8-bit-space-retro-platformer/id1501506439

Glass Frog

To any mods out there, how can I change the title thread from "WIP" to "now available on iPad"? (Thank you )

Also if anyone would like a promo code so they can try the game out for free, just let me know and I will post them below.

Cheers,
Simon

Glass Frog

I have decided to put 8 Bit Space Free for a week as sales have been very slow this past few weeks. So if anyone would like to give it a try I will leave the links below.

Apple App Store:https://apps.apple.com/us/app/8-bit-space-retro-platformer/id1501506439

Amazon: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Bit-Space-Retro-Platform-Game/dp/B086CD3KJR/ref=sr_1_48?dchild=1&keywords=8+bit+space+game&qid=1586268936&s=mobile-apps&sr=1-48

Glass Frog

HI Everyone, I have just released a PC version of 8 Bit Space on itch io. Here is a link for anyone who would like to give it a try. it's currently 50% off too! 😁

itch io: https://glassfroggames.itch.io/8-bit-space

Glass Frog

Finally got the steam release out.

Thank you to all the people who provided tips and help on compiling the EXE and on publishing to steam.

It has a 30% launch discount if anyone is interested in checking it out.

Also I can keep people informed on how sales go if that interests anyone?

Steam Link: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1452260/8_Bit_Space/